Heartbroken: Iris & Zero
by Link4000z
Summary: The Final Weapon has been destroyed by X and Zero, but for one hunter something dear was lost: Iris. As Zero escapes the explosion to head back to Earth he begins to have flashbacks of the only girl he's ever cared about and the one girl that he will never see again.
1. Emotions

**Emotions**

* * *

"So, this is what happened to me. This is, my fate!"

Zero screams as he looks at his hands in shock. There was a blast and a large space ship exploded behind Zero's small escape pod.

The large ship was The Final Weapon, or so it was called. Zero had just destroyed it and the Repliforce. The Repliforce was an army of great power. They had been accused of being Mavericks, but now most of them were destroyed.

"I couldn't save anyone after all!" Zero yelled in his small ship.

He was thinking about what the evil Maverick Sigma had told him. He had told him about his past. Sigma said that a strange man had created Zero. The man had evil intentions and made Zero to do his bidding. Zero was not a Maverick, but in his mind, he thought he was.

His mind started to swirl and another picture came up. It showed a girl reploid dressed in bluish-purplish dress.

"Iris!" Zero yelled as he recognized the girl.

There were two other people in Zero's mind also. It was he and Iris' brother, Colonel. Zero and Colonel were fighting and Iris was trying to stop them.

"Please stop! Brother! Zero," Iris was saying.

Zero shook his head, but yet another sad memory flooded through his mind. It showed Iris again, but this time she was dead.

"Iris, do we Reploids all turn out to be, Mavericks, after all?" Zero asked. Iris was Zero's friend, but she was not only his friend, but his lover too. Iris also was in love with Zero, however,she had died in The Final Weapon. She had gone crazy because Zero had killed her brother, but Zero only did it because he knew that Colonel was a Maverick. As Zero thought for a moment, he figured out Colonel wasn't a Maverick after all.

He was.

Zero's ship sped towards Earth and Zero started to recall the events that had happened between him and Iris.

Flashbacks started to begin.


	2. The Fashbacks Begin

**The Flashbacks Begin**

* * *

Sigma slashed at Zero with his wolf-like form. Zero dodged with a second to go. Sigma retreated towards the far wall and Zero yelled, "X! You know what to do!"

Mega Man X nodded and started firing at Sigma's middle. At the same time, Zero jumped into the air and slashed at Sigma's head. Sigma yelled in pain as Zero's hot Z-Saber sizzled down his metal head. Robotic fluids dripped down his scalp and down his body. Zero landed next to X, safely on the floor of the arena they were in and a sudden BOOM! filled the air. X's plasma shots had blown a hole in Sigma's belly which was now also leaking with Sigma's blood.

"It seems I have underestimated you," Sigma told them. "The playtime is over, now I'll bring this to an end." With that, Sigma blew up and millions of white energy balls were flying out of him. These energy balls were something special. They were Reploid DNA Souls that had been sucked out of Reploids because of Sigma and his dead minions, Berkana and Gareth's dirty work.

"Are you alright? Zero?" X said as he turned off his X-Buster and looked around for Zero.

"Yeah, I am. Hey, look at that!" Zero said as he pointed to the DNA Souls. "The DNA Souls are returning! The hollow Reploids will come to life!" X said happily. "Probably. Everything is over, now."

Suddenly, both Zero and X's communicators buzzed inside their helmet and then Iris' voice spoke up. "X! Zero! The hollow Reploids are coming to life one by one!"

"Iris," Zero said. "Rescue the Reploids in cooperation." Zero heard her say, "Ok," and then sign-off the transmitter.

Iris, a young girl reploid, was spotting for X and Zero on their mission. She was in league with the Repliforce; a group of hunters very much like the Maverick Hunters except there was a constant rivalry between the two forces. Maverick Hunters believed in peace while the Repliforce believed in power. Iris was helping the Maverick Hunters on this mission though her brother was the Colonel of Repliforce; she wanted peace not power.

Now that the battle was over and everybody could rest in peace for the time being, Zero could finally get some rest in his Data Pod.

"Let's go Zero! We have to express our thanks to Iris," X told him.

Zero nodded and said, "Right. She was very helpful."

Zero walked towards the gate, which they had entered through. X followed him. "I feel sorry that her first job as a Maverick Hunter was like this. The Colonel will blame me."

X gave Zero a strange look and said, "The Colonel? But I believe the experience will be helpful when she returns back to the Repliforce. Anyway, let's get moving. We're done here." Zero nodded and together they proceeded towards the surface of the island they were underground on.

* * *

"You did it!" Iris yelled as she hugged both X and Zero as they entered one of the many Maverick Hunter HQs. This one was located on the island. "I have good news!" Iris told them as she let go of the two hunters. "The hollow Reploids all got returned to a normal, healthy state and were having a party tonight as a celebration!"

X and Zero looked and each other. "I'm all for it!" Zero said in an enthusiastic voice. Iris smiled at him.

"I don't know," X said. "It doesn't seem right to celebrate a victory when many Reploids and Mavericks alike got killed."

"Brighten up X!" Zero said as he hit him playfully on the back. "Yeah, come on X!" Iris cried. X took a moments thought and then nodded.

* * *

That night, the party was held in the main hall of the Hunter HQ. Many Reploids and Maverick Hunters were partying and dancing with one another. X and Zero were backed in a corner, not having anyone to dance with.

"Go on, Zero. Pick a girl, any girl and go have fun!" X told him.

"Then you would be lonely and have no date, X," Zero replied.

Neither was having much fun. Neither of them had dates. Out of the crowd, Iris walked up to the two hunters, smiling and having a good time. "I don't have anyone to dance with, you guys want to join me?"

X looked at Zero and nudged. Through his communicator he told Zero to go with her. "Ok," Zero said to Iris. "But only if it's a fast dance, I don't know how to dance really," Zero said blushing.

X laughed, but quickly disguised it as a cough. Iris caught on to X's joke and laughed. "Come on Zero!" She said as she took her arm around him and pulled him into the crowd. Zero looked back at X with a stern look, but X just laughed.

"Ok!" Iris said when they were in the middle of the hall. "Let's dance!"

The song was fast so Zero didn't have to put his arm around Iris and risk stepping on her foot. He just danced to the groove of the beat and tried to follow other reploid's moves, though he wasn't doing so well.

Then it came. A slow song. Zero tried to walk casually back to X and give him the beating of a life time for making him dance with Iris, but Iris caught him and together they put up a dancing position. X, still leaning against a wall, watched Zero and laughed yet again. He knew Zero was too shy to dance and that he liked Iris a lot and thought she was cute. X knew that would make Zero even more shy.

Iris and Zero started to dance together and everything was going fine until: "Ouch!" Iris whispered as Zero took his foot off hers.

"Sorry," Zero said, blushing.

Zero continued to dance with her, watching his feet very, very carefully. Soon he was dancing like a pro and wanted to keep dancing with her all night. It felt so good and right to be dancing with the girl that Zero liked, but then… The music stooped and Iris took her hands off Zero.

"Thanks Zero!" She said and without another word, kissed him on the cheek. Zero had never been kissed before. Not even on the cheek. He was starting to get lost in his own world, with Iris until Iris said, "Want to take a walk?" Zero blushed and nodded his head and together they walk out of the party and into the gardens where they were all alone.


	3. True Feelings

**True Feelings**

* * *

Zero and Iris walked into the garden where they were all alone. This would have been the perfect time for Zero to tell how he really felt about Iris, but he couldn't muster up the courage to do so.

"So how long have you been working for the Maverick Hunters?" Iris asked him curiously.

"Ever since Dr. Cain found me, I'm not really even sure when that was."

Iris looked at him, shocked. "You were found? How?" She asked him.

Zero thought for a moment. Even he wasn't sure, he had never asked Dr. Cain about his origins and what he was like before Dr. Cain found him. Dr. Cain had just told him that he had been found by Sigma before he turned Maverick. Zero told Iris about these events and she nodded and they continued to walk through the garden. "I'm sorry your first job as a Maverick Hunter had to be like this," Zero told her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," Zero replied, "I'm sorry that your job couldn't have been a little easier. I'm sorry you had to deal with Sigma. You did so much for X and I that I don't know how to even thank you." Iris laughed and told him it was no sweat. Zero smiled. He liked Iris attitude about things. She could be serious sometimes, but at other times she could just be fun to hang out with.

She and Zero sat down one a white wooden bench and watched fireflies roam in and out of the roses they were by. "This is such a romantic place," she said to Zero.

For a moment, Zero could have sworn he heard his heart thump inside his chest, but then remembered he was a robot and had no heart, but he did have feelings. "Have you ever had a spouse or a boyfriend or something like that?" Zero asked her.

She sighed and shook her head no. "I've never had anyone, I don't think anyone likes me," she told him.

Before Zero could stop himself he blurted out what he had been wanting to say all along. "I like you though!"

He suddenly felt a cold wave of terror go through him. It was too early to say such things! But then Zero saw Iris smile and say; "I like you too Zero. I've always liked you!"

Zero felt the coldness lift from him and then he moved closer to Iris. Iris did the same. And then she closed her eyes and moved even closer to Zero! Zero did the same. And then they were an inch away, and then a centimeter away, and then Zero was waiting to hear a kissing sound but instead he heard, "Sir!"

Zero opened his eyes and saw that Iris had opened her eyes too. She was looking behind the bench at somebody. Zero turned around and saw a Maverick Hunter from the 13th Unit looking at him.

"What is it?" He asked, getting his hopes down. This unit had ruined the romantic aroma and now he would never get his kiss!

"Sir, Mavericks! Attacking the base!" The unit said franticly!

"What!" Zero yelled, jumping up and pulling out his Z-Saber.

"Yes sir! The Mavericks that you and X hadn't destroyed yet! They took parts from the destroyed Mavericks and built a powerful leader!"

Zero started to run towards the base. Iris started to follow but Zero told her to stay behind.

"No, Zero. I'm going to help the hunters!"

Zero sighed and beckoned her to come with him. He knew that there was no stopping Iris once she had made up her mind. Together the two ran back into the main hall of the base, just as fast as they had ran out of it.


	4. Scrap Metal vs Colonel vs Zero

**Scrap Metal vs. Colonel vs. Zero**

* * *

If you had Zero's eyes, you could clearly see that the party wasn't much like a party anymore. It was more like a madhouse! Reploids and Mavericks were fighting in every direction possible, bloody, robot, body parts lay scattered everywhere and blaster fire singed the air.

Out of the corner of Zero's eye, he saw Iris rush past him and into the on-going fight. "Iris!" Zero yelled after her. "Don't get involved, it's dangerous!" It was too late though; Iris was long gone into the fight. Zero sighed and ran in after her.

* * *

X was having his own problems however. Twelve Mavericks had surrounded him and he was trapped in the same corner Zero had left him at. With quick speed, X hopped into the air and grabbed onto the flying maverick that was hovering over him. He then threw the Maverick at two others, blowing them up and leaving nine more.

Two of the robots, with sabers identical to Zeros, but weaker, advanced on him very slowly. This gave X time to charge up a super blast and fire it at them. The blast hit them and one other, now leaving six more.

One of the mavericks had another saber and instantly charged at X while the other five had buster guns who stayed in one spot and started firing at X. X shot one of the blaster mavericks down and then turned to the saber maverick and fired. The maverick hit the plasma shot back at the ground with his saber like a baseball bat. X backed away and when the maverick got closer, X jumped over his head and fired at his back. This made the maverick blow. Then, forgetting about the other four mavericks, X got shot in the arm!

"Ahhhhhh!" X screamed as he fell to the ground. With precise aiming, X shot two more of the mavericks and then, to weak to fight anymore, slumped to the ground in pain.

The two remaining mavericks advanced on X when out of nowhere, Jimmy, a unit from the 11th unit swooped down and shot down the blaster mavericks. Jimmy was a humanoid hunter like Zero and X and had a knack for saving peoples lives.

"X, are you alright?" He asked as he lifted X off the ground. X nodded and examined his shoulder where he had been shot. There was a huge metal burn there, but nothing fatal. "I'm fine Jimmy, thanks!" Jimmy smiled and nodded and then jumped back into the air and back into the battle.

* * *

Zero slashed down another Maverick in his search for Iris. He had seen so much killing and blood, but no Iris. He just hopped she was ok.

Zero continued running through the battle and saw something huge and black. It was a giant robot made out of scrap metal and junk. It was the Mavericks new leader they had made, the one that the annoying unit who ruined Zero's kiss had been talking about. The scrap metal maverick had a huge sword also made of junk. The maverick was so big and the sword was so long that when the Maverick Leader swung, it would knock ten robots to the ground, Hunters or Mavericks, it didn't care! Zero watched as Maverick Hunters all tried to stab or shot its weak point, the chest, but always missed because the robot would swing its mighty sword.

The scrap metal robot seemed to be moving for one place, Zero noticed. Zero turned his head and from a distance all the way across the huge room, Zero could see a small robot that didn't fit in with the rest. The robot had no weapons or armor, it was all defenseless. It was Iris!

"Iris!" Zero shouted even though he knew she couldn't hear him over the noise of the battle. Iris was watching two robots battling and wasn't looking at the large, scrap metal robot coming from behind her. Zero started dashing for Iris as fast as he could go. If he saved her, he would surly get a kiss! But that wasn't the point! Zero had to save Iris; it was a matter of life and death!

The giant scrap metal maverick was about fifty feet away from Iris, so was Zero. They both were rushing towards her; the maverick had started to run. Unfortunately, the maverick got to Iris first. With a small shake of his free hand, two humanoid mavericks grabbed Iris by her arms and held her up to their leader who, in turn, raised his sword up in the air in a vertical fashion.

"I can make it!" Zero thought, as he was ten yards away from his enemy and his lover. Suddenly, there was a BOOM! and concrete fell right in front of Zero, blocking his way to Iris! "What the," Zero said as he looked up and saw that somebody had blasted a huge hole in the ceiling.

Through the hole came a massive body with a purple sword in its hand. Zero couldn't see who it was because the sun was blocking his eyes. The figure came down next to Iris, blocked the mavericks swing and Iris and then cut the two mavericks, which were holding Iris, in half.

"Brother!" Iris screamed as she ran up and hugged the figure, tears streaming down her eyes. It was the Colonel; Zero's rival and archenemy besides Sigma. The Colonel pushed Iris aside and sung at the maverick leader. The scrap metal blocked the attack and swung back at him. Colonel dodged the attack and took another shot and the maverick, missing again.

Zero, who was watching the fight, stopped and started climbing over the fallen concrete. Colonel took another slash at the scrap metal maverick and hit him on top of its head. The maverick growled and with a special sword trick, knocked the Colonel backwards, stunning him for a moment. At that time, when he was stunned, the maverick advanced on Iris again and this time slashed her in the arm. Iris screamed and fell to the floor, blood seeking from her arm. Colonel looked at Iris in shock, who was cuddled up on the ground and took a huge slash at the maverick and missed again.

"No!" Zero yelled as he gathered up strength and leaped over the wall.

Zero landed on the ground next to Colonel stuck his Z-Saber up in fighting position. He was ready to fight side by side with the Colonel if it meant for Iris. He wasn't going to let Iris die after all she had done for him. But before he could even slash at the maverick, Colonel heaved his big arm right into Zero's stomach, sending his flying across the room.

Zero spun over the heads of many reploids and mavericks and soon hit the wall and slumped to the ground. Zero tried to get up, but an electrical shock ran through him, making him sit on the ground in pain. As Zero winced in pain, a golden humanoid maverick dashed in front of him. He chuckled for about a minute, pointing at Zero and clutching his stomach, then he held out him blaster and BAM!

The maverick fell to the ground besides Zero. Jimmy had saved him!

"Thanks Jim, I owe you," He stopped mid-sentence to look behind Jimmy. Another humanoid maverick, this time with a saber was dashing at him.

"Jimmy! Behind you!" Zero yelled.

Jimmy turned, but it was too late. The maverick sliced Jimmy in half and dashed off. Apparently he hadn't seen Zero. Zero looked at Jimmy in horror and once again tried to get up to avenge Jimmy's death and help Iris, but the pain kept him down.

* * *

Colonel took yet another slash at the maverick and the outcome was yet again, another miss. The maverick laughed and lunged at the Colonel. The two had made such a commotion that most of the whole main hall was watching their battle, the reploids cheering for the Colonel, the mavericks cheering for their leader, and the hunters cheering for no one.

"I've had enough of your games!" Colonel cried. "I have three things you don't: power, ability and strength!"

The Colonel yelled and jumped at the maverick with full speed. It was so fast that none of the robots had seen Colonel stab the maverick in the chest until he backed away. The scrap metal gave a frown and fell to the floor in pieces.

Just then, ten worker mavericks came forth through the halted battle and started building their leader again.

"No!" Colonel cried as he slashed at the mavericks.

His sword did no effect; the blaster fire from so many of the hunters who were shooting at them didn't do any good either. They had shields. Soon enough, the maverick leader was revived again.

Colonel took a quick slash at the maverick's stomach, but it blocked the attack with its sword.

_It's no use, I can't destroy it! _The colonel thought.

Colonel put his fingers up to his mouth and blew. The whistling sound filled the hall so loud that reploids were wincing in pain. Suddenly, there was an even louder noise. Big booms coming in all directions. Twenty-four more holes had been blasted in the ceiling! Through the holes came millions of ropes.

"Up, hunters! Reploids who live on the island stay and die!" Colonel shouted.

The hunters stood still, they didn't take orders from anyone unless it was their leader. Right now, that was Zero, who was too weak to talk. X noticed this, making him in command.

"I have no choice," he thought as more mavericks started firing at him. "Up!" He commanded as he grabbed Zero and hopped on one of the ropes.

"No," Zero said weakly in X's ear. "Let the hunters stay and fight, we can do it!"

That's when Zero passed out. More and more hunters hopped aboard the ropes while the Mavericks killed the reploids. The ropes led to large Repliforce ships, which carried the hunters out of reach from the Mavericks.

"Come on, Iris!" Colonel said as he hoisted her in his arms and jumped onto a rope. Her cut was bleeding badly and she looked as if she was about to die. "Hang in there," Colonel said to her as they both boarded a Repliforce ship.


	5. The Romance Begins

**The Romance Begins**

* * *

The scrap metal Maverick yelled in anger as the Repliforce helicopters zoomed away. With one mighty heave of his arm, he threw his sword into the air which hit one of the many ships, making it fall through the sky and crash on the ocean waves. The maverick yelled in anger again for he knew that he had one sword and now that that sword was gone, he could not destroy any of the other Repliforce ships.

Some of the flying mavericks started zooming after the Repliforce, but their leader called them back. He wanted them to finish destroying the Reploids on the island who X and Zero had worked so hard to get their souls back.

* * *

There was good and bad news for X and Zero. The bad news was that they had gotten aboard one of the Repliforce's huge helicopters with the Colonel and that Zero was so badly hurt he needed to go to the Emergency Room. The good news was that Zero had gotten aboard the helicopter with Iris, who was now in the Emergency Room. Her cut was fatal and would forever be a scar on her metal skin.

"Destroy the island," the Colonel told the helicopter pilot who was in control of the missiles. Zero, who was in the cockpit with X and some other hunters tried to stand up and fight for the islands sake, but instead he felt a shocking pain, which almost made him pass out again, just like he had when X brought him into the helicopter.

"No!" X screamed! "Zero and I worked hard on getting those souls to the reploids living on the island. If you blow it up, all our work would have been for nothing!"

The Colonel gave him a stern look and said, "The mavericks will destroy the island and the reploids anyway even if we don't destroy the island."

The pilot pressed the missile button and out from the bottom of the ship, a missile fired towards the island! "No!" X said again. Many hunters started cussing and arguing with the Repliforce.

BOOM!

The missile had hit the island, which now wasn't an island anymore. _No…_ X said softly in his mind. _All those reploids dead… _The Colonel looked at Zero and laughed.

"He needs to go to the Emergency Room!" X yelled at Colonel.

"Oh come off it X! I didn't hit him that hard!"

X was starting to boil. He was already mad at the Repliforce as it was. To make him get madder was a bad idea. "Take him to the clinic NOW!" X yelled though the Colonel was two feet away.

"Fine!" The Colonel spat. "Be gone with him!"

Putting his arm around Zero's waist, X led Zero to the Infirmary and into the Emergency Room. There a nurse rushed up to him and X sat in the Waiting Room. Half an hour later the nurse came out. "It's going to be awhile before your friends up and running. I don't even think he'll be healed by tonight," she told him. X shrugged. "I don't care, I'm waiting." The nurse gave him a mean glare and left. X wasn't going to walk around; he was going to wait for Zero. Even if it meant staying up all night.

* * *

Iris walked up to her brother, a heavy bandage around her arm.

"Iris!" Colonel yelled as he hugged his sister gladly. "You are ok!" Iris nodded and smiled.

"Listen to me Iris," the Colonel said, staring Iris hard in the face. "I don't want you hanging out with the Maverick Hunters anymore, they are dangerous and could hurt you!" Colonel looked at Iris arm. "They all ready have."

Iris backed away from Colonel with a look of shock on her face. "They didn't hurt me! I hurt myself; it was my idea to rush into the battle and-"

"Stop!" The Colonel yelled. "I don't care whose fault it is! I just don't want you being near them. Stay with the Repliforce and not that idiot Zero! He can hurt you!"

"No!" Iris yelled, tears in her eyes. "Zero can't hurt me, you can and so can the Repliforce!"

Colonel stood up in anger and looked at his little sister, murder in his eyes. "YOU'RE WRONG! REPLIFORCE WILL NEVER HURT YOU AND NEVER WILL! I FORBID YOU GOING NEAR ZERO AND THE HUNTERS! I'LL NOT HAVE IT!" Iris ran from the room, her eyes flooded with tears.

* * *

Iris cried and cried for hours. She didn't have anywhere to go, she was in a corner, sitting on a bench where no one would find her. But the nurse.

"Iris?" She heard the nurse calling down the hallway. Quickly, she dried her tears and tried to look happy, but it wouldn't come. "Iris," the nurse said. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Iris replied.

"Oh, ok then," the nurse said. "Iris you need to sleep in the hospital wing tonight, it will help your arm heal." Iris nodded and got up. Together the two went to the infirmary and into the sleeping quarters. "You will be sleeping here, goodnight Iris."

The nurse left and Iris looked around. There were Data Pods lined up against the walls, all connected to one another so one could move into the others pod if they wanted to do so. Data Pods were a way to shut down a reploid, almost like sleeping, but not. Iris noticed Zero asleep in one of the pods with no one in it, but him. The only other person in the room was a sleeping hunter who was shut down on the other side of the room, in another data pod. Iris got into the Data Pod next to Zero and tried to fall asleep, but couldn't. She was crying again and she couldn't stop.

* * *

Zero slashed at the robot and soon it was destroyed. To his surprise, out came Iris! She was hurt and damaged badly.

He had killed her! Zero picked up Iris and that's when he noticed someone crying. Zero looked around. There was no one around, but he and the dead Iris. That's when, Zero woke up.

"It was just a dream!" Zero thought to himself. He was inside the same Data Pod he had been put in, inside the helicopter which was now far away from the blown up island. Zero tried to move, but stopped. What if he felt another electrical shock he had been feeling whenever he moved?

Zero then noticed that someone was still crying. Just like in his dream! It was coming from next to him. Zero decided to take the chance and move his body. He slowly turned his head to the source of the sound. It didn't hurt, he felt no pain! He had healed! Zero looked at the person crying next to him and noticed Iris. Why was she crying?

"Iris?" Zero said.

Iris suddenly jumped and stopped crying. "Zero?" she said. "I didn't know you were awake."

Zero nodded and asked, "Why were you crying?" Iris turned her head and blushed. Through her Data Pod she could see that it was pitch black outside. She could see the outline of the still sleeping hunter in the other Data Pod and the outline of Zero, but that was all. Zero became impatient and asked again, "Why were you crying?"

Iris focused her attention on Zero again and said, "My brother won't allow me to come near you anymore. He won't allow me to go anywhere near the hunters."

Zero smiled. "We'll you're here with me now."

Iris smiled. "Thanks Zero. I can always count on you to cheer me up."

She moved closer to him. "I appreciate that Iris. I never have met anyone like you before." Iris smiled again and moved even closer to Zero. "Are you moving closer to me?" asked Zero.

Iris couldn't help it. She blushed so red and then gave Zero a kiss on the cheek. This time it was Zero's turn to blush.

"I like you Zero," she told him.

Zero moved closer to Iris. "I like you too."

And then it happened. Zero met Iris' face. Together they kissed and Zero's mind went all numb. He had never felt anything like love before. Zero rolled over into Iris pod and kissed her again. Iris did the same. For the first time in Zero's life, he was feeling love. Nothing could ruin that night.


	6. Seperated

**Separated**

* * *

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Pause.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Zero opened his eyes and found himself staring at the nurse through his Data Pod. "You'd best get out of there before the Colonel finds you!" she told him. She pointed to someone next to him. It was Iris whose head was lying on his shoulder, sound asleep.

Zero opened his Data Pod and got out. He put Iris back in her pod and walked out of the infirmary. He felt great, almost as if he couldn't be better. He walked past the Waiting Room on his way out and noticed X, who was shut down lying on two chairs.

"He shut himself down a while ago, didn't want to leave until you were better," the nurse told him.

Zero smiled, but also felt guilty. X didn't have to wait for him until he got better, but that was who X was. If he had a friend in need, he would go out of his way to help them. Zero wrote a note on one of the chairs to tell X he was better and had gone out for a walk. He put the note on X's stomach and then left. He was feeling so good that he felt like practicing his sword techniques.

Zero went to the Meeting Room of the helicopter and pulled out his Z-Saber. The Meeting Room was one of the biggest rooms in the helicopter. It had a long table set in the center and many filling cabinets, reaching the ceiling. Plus, the room was finely decorated with pictures and vases, it also had a window, which wasn't of any use at the moment because they were inside a cloud and it was very foggy.

Zero stabbed at the air, pretending he was fighting the Colonel at the moment. Zero slashed and stabbed and stabbed again. He was having so much fun that when he knocked over a precious glass vase, put on the center of the table, he didn't even care! (Not that he would, it was of course the Repliforce's vase.)

"You'll never win Colonel!" Zero said as he stabbed the air again.

"That's what you think, Zero!" Zero said in a gruff voice, trying to make a British accent.

Zero slashed at the air and then fell to the ground, pretending he was the Colonel dying. After the "Colonel" had died, Zero got back up and that's when Iris came in. Zero quickly put his sword away, but he had forgot one thing! The broken vase! Iris smiled at him and then noticed the broken vase.

"What were you doing?" she asked in a curious voice.

"Nothing," he told her.

Iris didn't say anything. He knew she didn't believe him. Zero was never good at telling lies, especially to Iris.

"Ok, I was playing with my Z-Saber, that's all."

To Zero's surprise, she laughed and put the broken glass into a corner where no one would find it. She then walked straight up to Zero and said, "About last night." Zero's eyes widened. He was having so much fun he had forgotten about his night with Iris. "What about it?" Zero asked.

"Well, does this mean were a couple?"

Zero's nerves had gone up high. He didn't know what to say. He was about to say something, but he didn't have too. At that moment Iris said, "I think we should go out." Zero had a lump in his throat, but he pushed it back down and smiled. "Sure thing."

Iris moved closer to Zero and Zero did the same. He was used to getting closer to each other now. He knew what it meant. Zero and Iris' lips met once again. Everything was perfect for Zero now.

Until the door opened.

"What- " The Colonel said as he walked through the door. Iris and Zero instantly backed away from each other. The Colonel had found them making-out. This was bad.

"ZERO!" The Colonel yelled. "IRIS HOW COULD YOU!" Colonel quickly found his calm and said, "Zero, follow me outside. And you," he looked at Iris. "Stay here."

"Zero!" Iris yelled as he walked out the door.

* * *

"What in God's name were you doing, Zero?" The Colonel asked him. Zero didn't answer. Colonel didn't either. There was silence until Zero said, "I love her and she loves me back!"

It looked like Colonel had gone mad again. There was a mean fire in his eyes. "Out!" Colonel ordered.

"What," Zero asked in disbelief.

"You heard me. Out! I want you and your men off my ships. You will contact your headquarters and they will pick you up. You and your men will be skydiving out of my ships."

Zero took a step back. "We're in the middle of the ocean! You can't make us jump off these helicopters out in the middle of the ocean and wait for our team to pick us up!" Zero spat. The Colonel looked at him sternly.

"Just watch me."

* * *

"You're what!" A Maverick Hunter from the HQ yelled in disbelief over the Repliforce communicator.

"Yeah," Zero said. He looked at the Colonel who was standing over him. "They're making us skydive into the ocean."

"Why?" The hunter asked.

Zero looked at his feet in shame. It was his fault they were going to be thrown overboard, his fault Iris was going to get a beating from her brother, and his fault a lot of other bad things had happened around here for.

"Well, why?" The hunter asked again.

"None of you business!" Zero said over the COM. With those last words the Colonel shut the communicator off.

"Ok, now's the time for you to leave." The Colonel opened the cockpit door and gathered all the hunters around it. Not only this helicopter was doing this, but all of them were. "You first Zero because this is your fault!" The Colonel ordered.

"What?" One of the hunters asked.

"Well," the Colonel started.

Zero didn't want to hang around to hear what the Colonel had to say. With a mighty leap, Zero jumped from the helicopter. There was a WOOSH! and Zero was off, speeding towards the ocean waves. All around him others started to fall from other helicopters. As they fell, they gave Zero dirty looks.

_They must have heard what happened,_ Zero thought to himself as the last of the hunters fell.

Zero was a few yards away from the waves and wanted to get one more look at the helicopter. With all his might, Zero looked up through the wind and instead of seeing the helicopter, he saw Iris. She was staring out of the cockpit door, crying. Suddenly Zero felt his head hit cold water and everything went black.


	7. Reunion

**Reunion**

* * *

_Several months later:_

Zero slept soundly in his Data Pod within the Maverick Hunter H.Q.. The events on the island had happened months earlier, but the thoughts of them still weighed heavily on him mind. Sleep was welcoming for him, even if it was artificial. It took his thoughts away from Iris and the Repliforce. So he was slightly annoyed when a bright light suddenly awakened him.

Sitting up in his pod, Zero opened the hatch only to find an old man standing in front of him. The man's face was covered in shadow, but he wore a long lab coat and seemed to be a doctor of some sorts. No one Zero had ever seen within H.Q. though.

"Zero…"

"Who are you?" Zero questioned.

The old man ignored him and simply continued, "… my masterpiece…" His tone of voice was odd. Calm and somewhat adoring in a way.

"But… who are you?" Zero asked again. The man wasn't making any sense and Zero was beginning to feel a little unnerved. He had a strange feeling about this man… and all of this began to seem so familiar. Like déjà vu.

As the man spoke again, Zero made sure to stand up quickly. "After him! He is my nemesis. Our rivalry is what gives me motivation in life. Now go! Destroy him! That's an order!" With those final words the man began to retreat backwards into the light. Zero's eyes widened. Hee had seen this before, he did know who this was! He sat up quickly to stop the man. He still had so many questions to ask

"Huh? Wait!"

As he got to his feet a blistering pain assaulted his forehead. With a grunt of pain the hunter falls to his knees with his head clutched in his hand. A white noise pierces Zero's ears and he screams out in agony, his head raised towards the sky.

Images begin flooding into his mind and a familiar scream is heard. It is of Sigma. There are robot pieces everywhere, blood and oil leaking from their jangled bodies. Pieces of reploids are strewn throughout the room as if something had gone on a rampage. The old man is above him again, smiling at Zero through a glass panel. Then suddenly Sigma appears still screaming in horror. He stares down at his bloody hands in shock. Then more pictures of blood and violence before images of some schematics appear. They are schematics of him . None of this made any sense.

Then more blood. Bloody limbs. A bloody hand. Pieces of former reploids scattered throughout the room in ruins. A reploid with one of his eyes ripped out of its socket. There was so much blood… so much blood…

Zero's eyes open with a snap. Ahead of him is the top of the Data Pod. his heart beats wildly in his chest as he shakes his head to get a hold of his wits. He looks around outside only to see the sleeping quarters of H.Q..

No old man.

No bloody Reploid parts.

Only an empty room.

As he comes to his senses he begins to head a voice ringing in his ears. "Emergency, emergency! All Maverick Hunters on call to assemble immediately!" It takes Zero a minute to recognize that this voice is not from his dream. It is blaring out of the COM systems within H.Q..

Sitting up, Zero clutches his head. He remembers the dream vividly. And the pain that came with it. But it was easy to remember it vividly. The dream had been reoccurring for awhile.

"The same dream again…" He says in confusion as he looks down at his hand. It was definitely odd, but Zero didn't dare tell anyone about it. They would probably write him off saying that it was just a nightmare. Yet, for some reason, it felt more than just a dream. It was so _real_.

The alarm blaring in the background snaps Zero quickly back to reality. There was something happening and he was definitely needed. Emergencies over the COM system weren't called out for no reason. Setting his dream in the recesses of his mind, Zero stands up and rushes forward to his next mission.

It doesn't take him long before he reaches central command. Here he listens to the instructions spoken over the intercom. X stands off to the side with some of the other hunters. He gives Zero a stern nod as he enters and Zero returns it with the utmost seriousness.

"Mavericks emerged at the point 5567. They've occupied Sky Lagoon!" The intercom blares. There is a nervous and confused shuffle around the room as the hunters discuss this new attack. "This looks like Repliforce's doing!"

"Repliforce?" Zero says aloud to himself. They had no reason to occupy Sky Lagoon, they weren't Mavericks, even if Zero did have a grudge again the Colonel. Thoughts of the Colonel led him down a path towards Iris and that was a place that he didn't want to go. Better to leave her out than think about that again. She was out of his life, whether he wanted it or not and he had to move on from that.

Either way, the fact that Sky Lagoon of all places is under attack was not good. The lagoon itself floated high above the ground with a city atop it. If it were to for some reason get damaged or fall, the results would be catastrophic!

Not wanting to let it come to that, Zero begins to rush out as the Maverick Hunters get ready for a fight.

"…Ok. I'm on my way."

* * *

Zero's teleport puts him right in smack in the center of the city. Around him large buildings reach towards the sky and the skyline twinkles with the thousands of lights surrounding him. He had landed in the center of a highway which seemed to stretch forward for quite some time.

Though the view of the city was majestic, the atmosphere around him was not. Sirens blared from the streets below and Mavericks flew through the air wrecking chaos where they went. Zero unsheathed his saber and prepared himself for battle.

Rushing forward Zero moved towards the center of the city. With each slash and movement of his sword he took down robot after robot. The Mavericks were attacking everything in sight and Zero did not hesitate in striking them down. He was trained for this and the destruction around him made a made a storm of determination build within him.

Why would Repliforce do this? Could it really be them? Zero wanted answers.

Suddenly Zero notices as a giant shadow passes over his head. The hunter looks up just in time to see a giant Maverick dragon flying through the sky. It spots Zero and lowers itself down.

Zero gasps at the largeness of the creature, but continues his dash forward. A building seemed to be ahead, but it was blocked by several blast shields that had closed over the freeway during the attack. Zero would have to break through them if he was to continue!

The first shield had its upper section broken off so Zero easily jumped through it just as the Maverick dragon slashed down at him. Pieces of the blast shield ripped out from under him as the dragon's claw busted through it. Zero ignored his and continued his rush ahead. The building seemed closer now. Just a few meters away!

The next blast shield was also easy to jump through but the final one was still intact. With a yell Zero jumps into the air, his sword raised high! Slashing down, the sword cuts through the blast shield leaving a large gash. However, it was not enough. The shield still stood and the dragon behind him was coming ever closer! With another few yells to let out steam, Zero slashed furiously through the blast shield.

The attacks were not quick enough and before Zero knew it the dragon's claw was coming swiftly down towards him again. Moving into overdrive and knowing he needed to move fast, Zero jumps backwards just in time as the dragon's claw smashes into the freeway. The attack shakes the entire structure of the road and Zero almost loses balance before regaining his composure.

As the dragon lifts its hand back up for the next attack, Zero rushes forward again and begins to attack the blast shield. There is a small explosion as the shield suddenly explodes in front of him. Giving a small smile, Zero rushes through and past the dragon.

_Good riddance…_

His dash leads him within the building he had been moving towards. However, he finds that it is no better inside here than outside. Large construction robots turned Maverick destroy the walls of the building and move through it unchallenged. Gritting his teeth for more fighting, Zero moves ahead. His saber waves in front of him as he cuts through Maverick metal like butter.

There is suddenly a large crash and the building rumbles! The rumbling had much more force than the dragon hitting the freeway earlier. This was something far worse.

Explosions begin to detonate to either side of Zero, buffeting him back and forth with the intensity. _What's happening?_ Zero screams inside his head as he tries to keep balance against the rocking of the building.

A small door lies ahead and Zero quickly moves towards it. Rocks and pieces of the building fall towards him as he dashes left and right to avoid them.

It was pure chaos.

Though it was only a few feet away, getting to the door seemed like an eternity. As Zero slumps against it it hisses open and he heads inside.

As Zero walks into the room he soon finds that he is not alone. Inside is another Reploid. Though humanoid in appearance, he had the shape and form of a dragon. Zero instantly recognizes him as one of the Maverick Hunters, Magma Dragoon. Dragoon looks over as Zero enters and gives him a worried look. Zero stares back for a moment, wondering why Dragoon is even here in the first place. He should be with his unit in another area of the city. It didn't make sense for him to be in this location.

_Why isn't he with his unit?_

"Dragoon!? You're in the 14th unit! Why…?"

Before he can finish his sentence, Magma Dragoon steps forward urgently and speaks up over the further explosions. The worry in his voice is clear, but something about him seems off. Nonetheless, the hunter says, "This doesn't look good, Zero! That Maverick took out the power!"

Zero's thoughts drift to the dragon Maverick from before. He knew he should have just tried to take it out, but it was so big! Suddenly the news that the dragon took out the power hits Zero like a brick. Turning to his left, Zero sees the main power generator holding the city up. Fire flares within it and more bursts of explosions rock the outside of it. Without the power the city could not float!

"What!" Zero yells out in shock.

He can barely comprehend what was happening. Just an hour ago he had been sleeping where he was worried about some stupid dream. Now chaos was breaking loose and people were dying!

"Then the Sky Lagoon will… come crashing to the ground!" Magma Dragoon nods slowly. "Yes, and destroy the entire city."

"We have to do something!"

Zero had seen too much death lately. For all that had happened those months earlier with Repliforce, when they had taken out that entire island due to the Mavierck attack, he was not willing to let another island go burning to hell with thousands of lives on it. It wasn't fair! These random Maverick outbursts were becoming too much to handle!

Dragoon's words did little to comfort him. "It's too late. It's time I made my escape. You'd best do the same, Zero…"

Without another word Dragoon teleports from the area leaving Zero alone with the sound of the world coming down around him. Thoughts race through Zero's mind as he tries to think of some way to stop this from happening. There had to be a way! He couldn't just let thousands of people die over this!

Yet, no matter how hard he thought, not a single idea came to him.

"Damn! If Sky Lagoon falls it will be disastrous!"

Again he wracked his brain, thinking for any way out of the mess that he found himself in. His racing thoughts were quick to turn to rage. How could this happen!? How could the Repliforce do this!? He wanted to slam his hands into the ground, scream into the air and wreck anything that was left to be wrecked. Yet he felt no desire to move at all with the realization that there was nothing left to do.

"There's no time… I'm going down!" Following Dragoon's suit, Zero teleported from the area.

* * *

It was only a minute or two that Zero had to wait before he teleported back to Sky Lagoon, but they were the longest few minutes of his life. He was expecting the worst for what awaited him in the ruins of the city, but the destruction he saw was far worse than anything his mind could make up.

The city and the ground that originally lay beneath it were unrecognizable. The smell of oil and fire burning on the horizon wafted in the air and blood splattered the ground. Humans and Reploids alike were mangled together under the debris, their faces contorted into screams of terror.

"The carnage… it's… horrible. Those Mavericks will pay for this!"

Perhaps there were those still alive. He could only hope. Someone had to have made it out. Not wanting to waste another moment, Zero rushed forward into the madness. Rocks and pieces of former buildings fell around him as he moved and to Zero's dismay, the only few survivors all looked to be Mavericks. The only pleasure he took from this was that he got the opportunity to take out his rage on them. With yells of fury, Zero slashed at the Mavericks around him, moving his way through the unstable environment. The whole area looked to be crumbling around him. What structures had survived the fall looked to be crumbling due to the stress that they had taken from impact.

At one point the ground beneath Zero gave way unexpectedly. With a yell Zero fell a couple feet down, but was able to stop himself by sliding against a wall. However, just as he was catching his breath the walls began to close in again. Panic set in as Zero realized he was about to be squished in his own personal grave if he didn't move quickly!

Kicking out from under him, Zero moved upwards steadily as the walls continued to close in. Closer and closer they came and the opening ahead looked much too far away! Zero thought he wasn't going to make it! This would be the end for him. X and the others would have to continue on the hunter work without him.

_ I can't let this happen!_ He thought to himself with a growl as he kicked his way skyward. With all the events occurring today, now was when the hunters needed him most!

Giving himself one quick burst of energy, Zero topped the rise and landed on solid ground just as the walls closed beneath him. Zero smiled and gave a sigh of relief that he hadn't been turned to scrap metal. However, he didn't have much time to celebrate as something diverted his attention.

A small cry yelled out in front of him from somewhere in the distance. Zero held his breath and looked ahead. The cry sounded familiar too him… and it brought back memories.

_It can't be… _Zero thought as he got to his feet and begin to walk forward. The cry yelled out again. Zero thought he was hearing things, things that couldn't possibly be true. It was the stress, it had to be… There was no way…

He was running now, moving forward. Past the wreckage of the highway and more carnage that lay to all sides of him.

That's when he saw her.

Iris lay on the ground in front of him. Zero's heart stopped. His breath caught in his throat for a moment as the two locked eyes. There was meaning in that look, something that passed between them for a moment. It had only been a few months back since they had shared that Data Pod together and yet Zero felt as if he hadn't seen her in a lifetime. Her body was cracked, she was extremely dirty, and her outer shell cracked. He had never seen her look more helpless than now and it tugged at his heartstrings to think of the pain she may be in. However, he was flushed with relief when it hit him that he should be grateful that she was alive, but now was not the time to get emotional.

"Iris! What are you doing here! Are you ok!?" He yelled out to her as he moved forward quickly. It seemed a reasonable question. There was no reason for her to be in the ruins at this time. Had she been in Sky Lagoon? It was a miracle that she survived at all.

He waited for her answer, but instead she continued to look at him almost as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"Zero…" She began, not knowing what to think of the odd reunion that was happening. "Did you come to save me?"

He hadn't come to save her directly, but now that he was here he could think of no better survivor to rescue. "Yes. Hang on!"

"A huge Maverick appeared and…"

Behind her, Zero could see the giant dragon Maverick. It was still picking through the wreckage, destroying what it could. Zero stopped Iris from talking. He really just wanted her to rest and not move too much. Who knows how damaged she was and if he lost her again… he didn't want to think about it. Instead he pulled out his Z-Saber and faced the raging Maverick in determination. "Stay here Iris. I'll handle it!"

Anger fueled inside him as he looked ahead at the giant dragon, but also a curiosity bubbled inside of him that he couldn't suppress. "Is this really one of Repliforce's?" It still didn't seem natural for a giant Repliforce unit to be destroying the city. Either way he had to stop it. "I don't have a moment to spare! I have to defeat him or else…"

He begins to run forward, determination set in his eyes. Iris watches him as he passes her. She looks up at him as if she wants to say something but doesn't. Zero also looks down at her as he moves by and the sight of her body all cracked and wounded only pumps Zero up more.

Just a few feet ahead the dragon turns to look at Zero. It gives a howl from its mechanical belly and flies up into the air. Zero watches as the Maverick circles him before landing in front of him on the ground with a loud rumble.

Zero doesn't waste any time. With a yell he jumps forward, his sword raised into the air. The dragon also bellows back at him and swipes at Zero, but Zero jumps over it's claw. He slashes into the dragon's body and lands back on the ground. The dragon roars in rage before flapping its wings and flying into the air again.

Zero watches it circle around before landing behind him. With another of its mechanical roars, the beast opens its jaws revealing an electricity gun within its mouth. There is a sound of crackling energy before beams of plasma begin to fly in a stream at Zero. Thinking quickly, Zero jumps past the energy beam as it sweeps over the ground. He slashes out at the beast's stomach once more, driving his Z-Saber far into its chest. The dragon roars and lifts its hand into the air. Zero barely sees it coming and before he knows it he feels himself flying through the air as the claw slams into him.

Zero lands on the ground and rolls to his feet. _I've got to be more careful!_ He thinks angrily to himself, watching as the dragon rises into the air once more. There was no more room for mistakes. He had to take this dragon down or it'd keep terrorizing the people. Not to mention Iris who still lay helplessly on the ground a few feet away.

The thoughts of Iris again clouded his head, but instead of making things muddier for the hunter, it made things clearer. Realizing that he wasn't just fighting for himself, but instead for the one person he had ever had romantic feelings for, his next few attacks were perfect. As the dragon came in Zero ducked and jumped over each and every attack, slashing at the dragon when it came into view. It wasn't long before Zero could see visible wounds on the Maverick and with one final slash, the dragon began exploding.

The explosion was massive, but Zero felt relieved knowing that this Maverick wouldn't be terrorizing anyone else soon.

As the dust and smoke begin to flow away on the wind, Zero noticed another figure quickly approaching from the distance. It didn't look like a Maverick, yet Zero prepared himself anyways. However, when he saw who it was he realized maybe he would have preferred a Maverick. Ahead of him was none other than Colonel.

The Colonel dashed forward and stopped before Zero. He had his saber in his hand and Zero thought quickly about unsheathing his own sword in defense, but he didn't want to make the wrong move. For all he knew the Repliforce really wasn't behind the attack. It didn't seem that way, but Zero didn't want to blindly accuse the man of things that weren't his fault, even if he wanted nothing more than to see the Colonel behind bars.

"Zero! Long time no see," Colonel said sly as he slowed to a halt. The two locked eyes, not daring to turn away from the other. It was clear the tension from those months earlier had not evaporated at all. It made Zero uncomfortable, but the Colonel didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Colonel… What are you doing here?"

"I've come to save my sister Iris," he said softly, almost as if he were judging or waiting for a reaction from Zero. "I only hope she's okay."

Another flush of anger burned within Zero at this. _You're late! I already saved her? Where were you!?_

All these thoughts flooded through his mind in a whirl. He couldn't help but blurt out, "She's fine! I just rescued her."

Zero wasn't sure what to expect from Colonel, but the man didn't give any reaction even if deep down in his programming it did irritate him. With a sly smile the Colonel simply said, "Oh? Thanks, Zero! I owe you one…"

_That's it? That's all the thanks I get from you!? _Zero's face burned with anger at the comments from his rival, but he again needed to pull back and remind himself why he was here. Was the Repliforce behind the attack? Now the question of where Colonel had been earlier was all the more important. However, Zero wasn't looking to fight. Not with Iris right back there where she could probably see the whole thing even if she couldn't hear them talking. He just hoped she was doing alright, but for now questions needed to be answered.

"…Colonel. I have a question for you. …Did your unit attack this place?"

When Colonel reeled back in confusion, Zero wasn't sure whether he was relieved or more confused.

"What are you talking about? Repliforce came here for help. We weren't involved in the attack!" Colonel shifted angrily, his pride obviously hurt.

Zero was unsure of what to do. He didn't want to push the Colonel's buttons too much, even if he did hate the man. So he figured that he'd just tell it as it was.

"They suspect you've become a Maverick."

"What!?"

"Disarm and come with me to the H.Q.."

Colonel glared in anger at that last command. He didn't take orders from Maverick Hunter, least of all Zero. It was clear he didn't intend to go anywhere with Zero. "I'm afraid I can't. Soldiers never drop their weapons! I won't do it, not even for you, Zero!"

This was not what Zero wanted to hear. If Colonel didn't come back to base to answer for the Repliforce, there was going to be a whole lot of trouble. In a desperate last attempt to convince Colonel to come with Zero shouted out, "Then they'll think you're a Maverick!"

"So be it!" Colonel shouts over Zero's voice. The intensity and the anger in his voice was palpable. Zero nearly took a step back, but kept his cool. He could show no sign of weakness, nothing that the Colonel could use against him if it came down to a fight.

_If Colonel tries anything, I have to be ready…_

"The Repliforce prefers war over dishonor and shame! Good bye, Zero!"

As Zero stood in the center of the devastation around him, he couldn't help but agree that war did seem to be the answer even if it was the farthest thing from what Zero wanted. As Colonel disappeared Zero moved forward, trying to put some reason into the Colonel. _As if that's ever worked before…_

"Wait! Colonel! Listen to me!"

It was too late. Colonel had teleported away leaving Zero alone with only the wind whipping around him.

With a frustrated sigh Zero kicked the dirt beneath him. "Damn! This isn't good Colonel! They may decide the entire Repliforce is a group of Mavericks!" And if that turned out to be the case, Zero knew that a fight between the two was inevitable.

Suddenly realizing the Iris was still behind him, Zero turned and began to head back to where she was. However, to his dismay, her body was gone. Most likely taken back to the Repliforce base by her brother.

He didn't even have the chance to talk to her again, to catch up after their sudden separation those months earlier. It made Zero feel even more lonely and cold out there in the wind. The future wasn't looking so bright anymore.

* * *

Just a couple of days later back at H.Q. things weren't going well. The Repliforce had declared outright war against the humans who had deemed them Mavericks and now fighting was inevitable. The hunters around the base were trained well, but even they had an air of sorrow that the fighting should continue so soon after their last mission.

In the equipment area of the H.Q. Zero was just finishing up his armor check to go out on another round. He had just gotten back from the jungle where he had defeated Web Spider. The battle had been intense, but now the area was clear from danger. He had taken some blows during the battle but his check showed that everything seemed to be in order. There were about seven more areas to free from Repliforce control now.

With his armor ready, Zero made his way toward the central command where X stood with his aide Double. Double was a little, round, odd Reploid who seemed to admire X in everything that he did. At the moment the two seemed to be at work as X prepared to take off on another of his missions. A red beeping dot was located near a railroad track on a computer map and both X and Double looked up.

"What's happening?" X asked looking over to Double for info.

"A military train is moving supplies," Double informed him. He looked over at X, as the two both had the same idea. "Cut off Repliforce's supply route."

"Sounds good to me," X replied as he did his final weapon calibrations on his arm. At this time he looked up at Zero and gave a wan smile. "Hey Zero."

"Be careful out there," Zero told his friend, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "I hear Slash Beast is leading the train and if the stories I hear are true he won't be easy to take down."

"X can do it! Can't you X!?" Double said with excitement as he hobbled over to the two of them, dropping tools and files in his hands along the way. Both of the hunters looked down at the smiling, golden Reploid with a mixture of amusement. There was no denying that Double was a little odd, but he did his job well. Zero wouldn't have chosen him as an aide though. However, as his current aide walked into the room and the air filled with an awkward tension, Zero wasn't sure if maybe he would take that statement back.

Iris strolled into the room with a couple of files in her own hands. She looked over at the three men standing by the command console and gave them a friendly nod. Zero's heart was beating out of his chest once more. Her armor had been fixed and even when he found her beautiful on the ground at Sky Lagoon, she was gorgeous to him now.

She had showed up at the Hunter H.Q. just a day after the attack on Sky Lagoon and the Repliforce General's announcement of war. It was clear that she didn't approve of her brother following the General's plan and wanted no part of it. However, Iris knew that a fight between one of the hunter's and the Colonel was inevitable and this surely weighed down on her mind.

The second reunion had been a bit stressful, though it was not as sudden as it had been at Sky Lagoon. Zero wanted Iris to have no part of all this mess but she insisted on helping him if she could. The only problem was that she was a distraction for him. Whenever she was around Zero couldn't help but think about her. He thought about their last mission together and the night they shared in the Data Pod. If only he could have that happen again! Yet now was not the time. However, his mind constantly drifted over to her as he yearned to be closer.

X and Double seemed to notice the tension in the room as Iris walked in and turned towards each other. X nodded at Double and then gave a quick nod to Zero before teleporting from the away.

As Iris finished sorting her papers and turned to face Zero, Double slyly began to move out of the room. "Well… if you guys don't need me anymore… I'll be over here…"

Now with the two alone, Zero was again unsure what to say so he got right down to business, "Where to today Iris?"

"I was thinking you could go after one of Repliforce's agents known as Jet Stingray. Repliforce decimated the city and left. Pursue them aboard the Land Chaser."

Though professional in demeanor, he knew that pitting herself against the Repliforce made her feel terrible. Even if it wasn't shown on the outside, he knew she felt it on the inside. Zero truly wished she would have just stayed away from all this, but at the same time he liked having her close. He just hated knowing that she was going through emotional pain.

"Iris…" He began, but stopped unsure of what to say.

"Hmm?" Her big green eyes locked onto his and Zero's heart nearly jumped to his throat.

"Iris, are you still sure you want to be doing this?"

Iris shifted on her feet in annoyance and gave a sigh of frustration. "Of course I do Zero! I cannot allow the Repliforce to do what they're doing, it's not right!"

"Yes but… I feel like it's causing you some stress."

Iris again looked as if she were to snap at Zero a bit, but he stopped her before she could, "Look, Iris, I don't mean to press or anything. I just don't want to see you get hurt… or anything."

He felt awkward saying it. It wasn't like him to show such emotion to anyone before and he wasn't sure how to go about it. However, Iris seemed to relax at this. She slumped against the command console tiredly and rubbed her eyes.

"I know Zero," she began. "But I know where I need to be. Please don't worry about me…"

_It's kind of hard not to…_

He wanted to go over to her, give her a hug, take her away from all of her troubles. He knew he couldn't. Even just a slight reliever though, something to take her mind away from the troubles at hand.

_Like a date._

The thought sounded stupid in his head, but their dates seemed to go alright before. "Maybe you should just take a break," he said to her. He wanted to keep going and ask for a full night with her, but he couldn't right now. He just didn't have the nerve.

Iris nodded at him and replied, "Yes. Maybe. But right now, we have other things to worry about." She pointed to a blinking dot on the computer map above them where Jet Stingray was moving through a destroyed city. Zero nodded and began to prepare for teleport. Once he was all ready he gave a nod to Iris. The last thing he heard was her voice saying, "Good luck, Zero!" before he was blasted into the sky.

_I really need to get the courage to ask for that date. _He thought to himself before battle. It seemed ridiculous to think of something like that before going into a battlefield. However, on second thought after considering the war he was about to go into, a date seemed like the most perfect and fitting thought of all. As his teleported set him down aside a Land Chaser in the ruined city, all Zero thought about was Iris and her image fueled him forward into the fray.


	8. A Very Bad Day

**A Very Bad Day**

* * *

Zero warped back to the H.Q. as soon as soon as he had defeated Split Mushroom. To his surprise, Split Mushroom wasn't working with the Repliforce, but with someone else. Zero thought about this as he started walking down the hallway he was in and into the Main HQ where Iris and the other remaining Maverick Area's were located.

Zero had a choice of who Split Mushroom was working for. It could have been Sigma since he was one of Zero's top acrh-rivals. It also could have been Doppler though he had supposedly died. It might have just been a simple Bounty Hunter who wanted to kill Zero for the sport of it, Zero didn't know. He was going to think about it over his date with Iris which he hoped to have tonight.

Zero walked into the Main HQ and found Iris looking over some files. "What are you doing?" Zero asked.

Iris put the papers down and walked over to Zero. "Nothing, just looking at Dragoon's files." Zero nodded.

Dragoon whom Zero had met at Sky Lake was now a Maverick. He had betrayed the hunters and helped Repliforce bring down the lagoon.

"What are you doing tonight?" Zero asked. Iris shrugged and looked at the screen which showed each Mavericks location. There were six small red dots on the map. Zero had defeated two Mavericks already.

"I-I was wondering," Zero stuttered. "Would you come with me to the lake tonight, behind the HQ on a date?"

Iris turned to him with a look of shock on her face. "Zero!" She yelled. "We're in the middle of a war! The Repliforce is on the move! We can't love in the middle of a war, a crisis! Zero, you're the center of the war! You represent the hunters! We can't love now, not here, not at this time!"

Zero started to get mad and frustrated. "Iris, please! I haven't seen you in so long! I've waited a long time for us to meet again! Iris, I-" Zero stopped. He wanted to tell Iris how he felt about her, how deeply he felt about her, but he didn't have enough courage. Quickly, Zero gathered up his courage and blurted the words out of his mouth. "I love you!"

Iris turned away from him. She loved him too. She was deeply in love with him, but was now the right time to love? Iris sighed, she knew of only one answer that would solve all their problems.

"We can't love," she said turning back to him. "We can't love here, now, ever. It would never work."

Zero expected to see tears in Iris' eyes, but instead he felt tears dripping down his face. Zero turned away and quickly wiped his eyes when Iris wasn't looking. He was a hunter, not a cry baby. He turned back to Iris and nodded. "Ok," was all he said.

With that, Zero warped from the room and into the fiery volcanic mountain where he would find Magma Dragoon.

* * *

The volcano had danger around every corner. Eruptions were constantly happening and huge boulders with fire surrounding them were falling from the sky. Zero ran forwards and then went down a hill.

BOOM! Four huge boulders started rolling down after him. Zero jumped over the first one and then jumped up into the air and grabbed a cliff to avoid the second one. Zero did the same to the third boulder, but fell and got hit by the last one. Zero skidded all the way down the hill after the boulder hit him. He quickly got back up and wiped himself off. He didn't have any permanent damage.

Up ahead, Zero jumped from cliff to cliff, dodging boulders that got in the way. He continued jumping until he came to another hill. Zero looked around, he sensed eyes on him.

Flash!

Zero turned, but nobody was there.

There was a crackle like some rocks falling. Zero turned once again, but still met nothing. Then, as quick as Zero could, he turned around and saw a Metool. The Metool (Met for short), taken by surprise got killed right away from Zero. Zero smiled once he had defeated the Met, but unknown to him, that was the least of his troubles. Four more boulders on fire were rolling down the hill along with two Repliforce bats ready to drop bombs on Zero when he came close!

Zero jumped into the air and hoped over all the boulders this time. He wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time. The bats swooped over to Zero, once Zero was back on the ground and dropped some bombs on him. Zero rolled out of the way from these deadly attacks and then slashed a bat down with his Z-Saber. The other bat dodged the saber and rammed Zero in the back. Zero stumbled, but kept his balance all the same. With a mighty war slash, along with a war yell, Zero slashed down the bat. Once the nuisance was dead, Zero continued his trek up the hill and into the volcanic area two.

* * *

Zero entered the volcanic area two at full speed and looked around. Fireballs were falling from the sky, the path Zero was on looked like it was crumbling and Repliforce units were in huge ride armor tanks. To put the last sentence in a shorter form, I would say: It was much more dangerous than the first area.

Zero walked forwards and heard a Crack! Zero looked around. Could it have been another Met bothering him?

Crack!

Zero looked at his feet. The ground underneath him was cracking. He jumped back just in time and landed safely on firm ground. All that was left in the chunk of path in front of him were small platforms being held up by ground that hadn't been destroyed yet. Zero looked down into the cavern he had just made. Lava was at the bottom of it, waiting for Zero to jump in so it could devour him. Zero looked at the small pieces of land ahead. His only choice was to jump from platform to platform without falling.

Zero stood back and ran at full speed towards a platform. He jumped! And then landed safely on the platform. Zero was relived, but he still had more platforms to jump to. Zero jumped to the next and the next, each time he jumped, it got easier and easier. It wasn't a surprise when Zero became tired of jumping.

Zero sat down on the platform. He looked behind him to see the platforms he had already jumped on, but they weren't there. Zero gave a frightened face and looked down. Strangely, he didn't see a crack or the slightest thing that would tell that it was going to fall under his weight.

Then there was a rumble, a rumble Zero hadn't heard before. Zero looked up and saw a huge flaming boulder dropping from the sky, right above him. Zero jumped to the next platform a split-second before the boulder hit the platform and it disintigrated.

Zero wiped his forehead and jumped to the last platform. From there on, there were no platforms, just a strait road with Repliforce units in ride armor on it.

Zero started walking up the trail, slashing at the robots who got in his way. Zero searched and soon found some ride armor. With his armor, Zero was no match for the other Mavericks.

* * *

It wasn't long before Zero reached Magma Dragoon. His ride armor had been destroyed before Zero could reach Dragoon so he couldn't fight him with it on. Dragoon had a smile on his face. A smile full of evil.

"Zero, it's really you!" He said in a surprised voice.

Not beating around the bush, Zero quickly asks, "Why did you betray us?" Dragoon didn't answer which made Zero get more angry. "Answer me Dragoon!"

"I have no answer for you my friend," Dragoon answers in an almost mournful voice.

"Dragoon!" Zero yells. Zero doesn't want to fight his friend. Not now in the middle of a war!

Before Zero can try to talk it over, Dragoon lunged. BAM! Zero got the wind blown out of him.

"Come on Zero, put up a worthy fight," Dragoon taunted. Zero nodded and staggered to his feet.

"I'll show you a worthy fight!" Zero screamed.

Dragoon smiled and blew out a breath of fire. With all of his might, Zero jumped over the roaring flames and behind Dragoon. There was a slash and Dragoon's arm was dripping with blood. He smiled and rampaged again but Zero jumped and once again got to safety. Zero slashed again with his sword, but Dragoon rolled aside, almost falling into the lava to the right of him.

Dragoon and Zero started to breath in deeply and out deeply. They were both tired, but this gave Dragoon an opportunity to formulate a plan. With a scream of rage, Dragoon lunged at Zero once more. Zero jumped into the air again, but was very surprised when Dragoon jumped right before him.

CRASH! The two robots collided, but Dragoon was ready for the crash. With a slash, Dragoon pushed Zero to the ground. From there on, Dragoon continuously slashed at Zero's chest like a mad man. Zero tried to reach for his saber which had fallen by his foot, but it was no use. Dragoon had pinned Zero like a mouse in a trap.

Dragoon raised his hand and slashed again, this time cutting Zero's lip which started to bleed. "STOP!" Zero yelled.

In confusion, Dragoon stopped attacking, but kept Zero pinned just in case. "Stop now Dragoon or you will regret it." Dragoon stopped for a moment, but then lifted his hand high, ready to punch Zero once again. But again, he stopped.

"Please Dragoon, you don't have to do this," Zero pleaded. Dragoon shook his head and slowly said, "I'm sorry." He then connected his fist to Zero's face.

Quickly, Zero kicked the hilt of his sword which made it fly into his hand. "Wait Zero, this is-"

Dragoon didn't get to finish. Instead he got Zero's Z-Saber stuck right in the middle of his heart.

Zero pulled out his saber and kicked Dragoon to the floor. The mechanical Dragon was in a crumpled up heap.

"I wanted to defeat you," Dragoon said in a slow painful voice. "Then he appeared."

Zero stepped forward, treating his lip. "He? Who?"

Dragoon winced and continued. "He told me he'd give me power only if I worked for the Repliforce."

Zero continued to stare blankly at Dragoon. "What?" Zero asked.

Dragoon shook his head slowly and said, "I couldn't refuse the offer, sorry Zero." With one more sad look, Dragoon exploded in a ball of flames.

"Dragoon!" Zero yelled as he back away from the intense heat. Dragoon was gone and Zero had no clue what was going on. It was a bad day, a very bad day.


	9. Fight at Memorial Hall

**Fight at Memorial Hall**

* * *

Iris watched her brother appear on the screen in front of her. The disappointment showed clearly in her face. Her brother wanted to fight Zero and she knew, if her brother wanted to, he would kill Zero. Iris started to tremble. So much stress was upon her. She felt as if she was going to burst into tears, but she stopped. She couldn't cry. Not now.

There was a flash and Zero appeared out of nowhere. "I've got a message from the Repliforce," Iris said quietly almost as if she didn't want Zero to hear her. Zero watched as she pressed a button on the control panel.

"Zero! I'll be at Memorial Hall! Be there!" Colonel's face says on the screen. Zero nodded and was ready to leave when Iris ran up to him and grabbed him tightly around the waist.

"Iris!" He yelled, a little more harsher then he thought he would. Iris didn't seem to hear him, she was too busy making sure Zero didn't go.

"Don't go Zero! Don't fight him!" She yelled through sobs of tears. Zero, trying not to hurt Iris pried her off of him. He then took her be the shoulders, looked strait into her eyes and said, "This is a matter of personal pride now. There's no avoiding this, I must go." He quickly turned he head away from Iris, he didn't want to see her cry at the moment. He already felt horrible as it was, but it was just getting worse.

Zero stood there for a while thinking about Iris. He then turned back to her. She wasn't crying, but she seemed disappointed and scared at the same time. Zero was about to say sorry, but he couldn't. He couldn't muster up the courage. Without a final glance he teleported through the air to Memorial Hall.

* * *

Colonel wandered through Memorial Hall in search of Zero. He was late, but everybody always said he would be late. Zero thought it was cool to be late or so the Colonel had heard. However this time Zero was fifteen minutes late, too late to be "cool".

"He won't show," Colonel thought after a moment. "He got scared and ran back to his base to hide."

Suddenly there were some sounds of someone jumping above Colonel. "Huh!" He said in surprise as he looked into the sky. Zero was standing on a statue, silhouetted against the sun. Colonel didn't make any moves. He wanted Zero to start and then he would finish him off.

"I'm disappointed in you Colonel!" Zero yelled from the statue.

Then, with a giant leap and a great cry of war, Zero jumped from the statue his Z-Saber raised high above his head. Zero was fast and Colonel barley saw Zero rushing at him. Colonel wasn't quick enough to pull out his sword, but he was quickly enough to move out of the way before the saber came crashing down on him. Instead of Colonel's death, the saber hit the ground leaving a large, steaming gash in the concrete floor.

Zero quickly got himself together and rushed at Colonel once more. This time however he didn't raise his sword at him instead he backed him into a corner.

"What do you think you're doing?" The Colonel yelled quickly afraid that Zero would suddenly slash him to millions of pieces. Zero however didn't do this, he was thinking about other things then fighting at the moment.

"It's not too late, stop the coup now!" Zero pleaded as he faced Colonel strait in the eye. For a moment Zero thought he saw a flush of anger and old hate for Zero in Colonels eyes.

"Never!" he yelled proudly.

Zero sighed and faced the ground, saber still in his hand. "If that's your decision," Zero clutched his saber tightly as he said this. Seeing this, Colonel put his hand on the hilt of his purple sword.

Zero didn't want to fight. He knew how disappointed Iris would be and already was. But at the moment it seemed the only choice so very quickly he yelled, "Prepare yourself!"

With that he lunged at Colonel. Colonel however was ready for the attack. He whipped out his sword and parried Zero's blow. The sabers collided with such force they sparked together creating immense heat. The sparks started to fly getting into Zero and Colonel's eyes. With a final clash with the swords, Zero pulled apart and moved out into a more open space. Colonel followed all the while slashing at Zero, but to no affect. Zero was just blocking the blows from swift moves with his own saber.

When Zero stopped the two each attacked at the same time. Both the sabers hit each other with full force. The two kept the sabers together for some time. Zero was trying to push his saber towards Colonel and Colonel was doing just the opposite. It was like a never ending arm wrestle, but with sabers.

Suddenly there was a big flash and both Zero and Colonel got thrown backwards, but remained on there feet. _What was that?_ Zero thought as he looked at Colonel. What had happened was that the two swords over-heated causing a small explosion.

After taking a quick rest Colonel lunged at Zero again. He was going for the killing blow, one attack he hadn't used in a long time. However every time he used this attack it never failed to kill slowly and painfully. Colonel ran faster at Zero, faster, and faster, and faster until a small voice was yelling out inside his head. "Stop, please!"

Suddenly Colonel realized this voice wasn't inside his head. It was outside and it was a familiar voice. It was Iris.

"Brother please! Don't you remember, Zero saved my life!

Colonel looked shocked. He looked from Zero to Iris and then back at Zero again. Zero however kept looking at Iris with a mixture of hate, love, thankfulness, and many other emotions. Colonel made a gurgling noise in his mechanical throat and looked back at Iris. He wanted so much to just rip Zero up, tear him to pieces. However that day was not today, not in front of Iris or in Memorial Hall.

Looking back at Zero he said, "Very well then. I will spare your life for now." With that Colonel walked away back to Repliforce, but not before he said, "But next time there will be no mercy."

Zero was shocked Iris had come, he had a mixture of feelings that he wanted to just yell out. He was happy to know that she cared about him and her brother, but he was mad that he couldn't stop Colonel.

Looking back down at Iris she said, "Zero please don't fight with my brother. If you do I'm afraid one of you may end up-"

She couldn't finish because for one, she just didn't want to think about the subject of Zero or Colonel dying and the second reason was that Zero had jumped away as if he weren't listening to her.

"Some one must stop Repliforce!" Zero growled as he walked away clenching his fists.

"Zero!" Iris called after him in worry.

However Zero was gone, he had teleported away leaving Iris stranded in the middle of Memorial Hall. She started to cry and walk home sadly.


	10. X and Iris

**X and Iris**

* * *

X jumped. He landed behind Frost Walrus with a clank and started to fire rapidly. He wasn't going to let this Maverick win. Frost Walrus got up and turned facing Mega Man X. With a blast of icy breath the Maverick created a huge ice block, three times larger than X himself! With a mighty punch from the huge Frost Walrus, the ice block shattered into ten large, spiky, blocks, some of which hit X. Mega Man X groaned and looked at his health. He was very, very low and by the looks of it so was Frost Walrus.

"Good, now were evenly matched!" Frost Walrus said as he laughed. X smiled and inserted Magma Dragoon's weapon.

"Not exactly!" With a mighty rush, X ran forward and shot a fiery blast strait into Frost Walrus' head, melting his tusks. There were several explosions, but X didn't care. He was used to explosions after beating so many Mavericks in his past. There was a big boom and a small chip appeared in front of X. It was Frost Walrus' weapon. X smiled and teleported to the Maverick Hunter Base. He had a meeting with Zero to attend to.

* * *

X hit the floor with a small metallic clink making his assistant Double jump and drop some items he was carrying. X smiled and helped pick up the items.

"Thanks X," he said.

"Anytime," X replied as he hurried down a corridor to the meeting room. X and Zero had to discuss their new tactic to beating the Mavericks. There were only two left: Storm Owl and Cyber Peacock.

As X spotted the door to the Meeting Room he could have sworn he heard a small voice off in the distance. Thinking it was just another Maverick Hunter, X continued toward the door when the voice came yet again.

X stopped. The voice sounded different this time, it didn't even really sound like a voice, it sounded like a sob. X looked around.

A small hologram of a clock was on the wall to X's right. It said 11:50 AM. _I still have five minutes until the meeting, why not go and see what the problem is_,X thought as he backed away from the door.

X started to walk down the corridor, ready to investigate the sound. Every step X took the sounds seemed to get louder. Quite a few times X would have to backtrack to an area to see if he took a correct turn. Finally X seemed to have found the room where the mysterious person was in. It was the old storage room where all the old equipment was kept.

"Who could be in here?" X asked himself as he walked through the door. The moment his metallic footsteps and the closing of the door sounded the sobs stopped immediately. "Weird," X thought as he walked forwards slowly.

The room was filled with old weapons and items of no use now. Old laser guns were scattered on the floor, scrap metal was hidden away in boxes, Dr. Cain's old equipment was stored in a small corner all to himself and X even found an old revolver locked away in a dusty glass case. The room was amazing to X. Everything was so old which amazed him.

X walked further into the room and found some old blueprints. They looked like blueprints of some of the first reploids to be built by Dr. Cain himself! _Wow_, X thought in amazement. _It's as if I went back in time, all this stuff is so_-

X never got to finish his thoughts for a something moved out of the shadows behind X. X quickly turned around, his X Buster raised high, but it was too late. The repliod or whatever it was gone in a flash.

"Wait! Come back!" X yelled as he bolted after the thing.

He was running at his full speed trying to catch whatever was sobbing in this area. X couldn't let it get away. It could have been a Maverick hiding in the storage area or part of the Repliforce trying to infiltrate the base. X ran past boxes and boxes piled high in the air. They passed him in a flash. X had stopped running, but he had started to dash. He just couldn't let whoever was in here slip from under his grasp. X continued to dash left and right, up and down and suddenly there was a crash from his right. An empty box had fallen down and had opened a space X hadn't seen before. It was the upper-left corner of the room. The corner was dark and once X walked in he was instantly blinded.

A scrape of metal came from his right and X turned, but saw nothing through the darkness. "Who's there?" He said. He steadied his buster and started to swing it through the air madly. Something or someone was here, waiting for him.

Suddenly and idea popped into X's mechanical head. Smiling through the darkness, X charged his buster. Small bubbles of light started to grow around him, soon becoming brighter and brighter until it lit up the whole area. There was a gasp behind X and he quickly turned.

It was Iris. She was standing in the corner looking very frightened. "Iris," X said as he continued to hold his charged buster. He aimed it away from Iris and continued to say, "What are you doing down here, why were you crying?"

She didn't say anything, but in a matter of minutes tears started to fill up in her eyes and she clamped onto X. "Oh X, I didn't know it was you. You scared me so much. I thought you were Zero!"

X was taken aback. "Zero!" he said. "Why are you scared of Zero?"

She didn't say anything, but she continued to cry.

"Come on, let's get out of this corner."

Together the two made their way out of the corner and sat on two boxes filled with metal. X was very confused and he needed to get some answers. He quietly turned off his charged shot and looked into Iris' eyes. Very gently he asked once more, "Why are you afraid of Zero, Iris?" Iris continued to cry, but slowly stopped and looked down at the ground. X was patient. He didn't want to make her more upset then she already was. Slowly and suddenly she answered.

"X, I'm not afraid of Zero, I just don't want him to see me like this."

X nodded, but was still confused. Getting ready he asked Iris another question. "Why don't you want Zero to see you like this, if anything I thought he would make you feel better."

Iris started to slowly cry again. Tears were running down her eyes as she said, "No, I'm crying because of Zero and I don't want to talk to him right now."

X still didn't understand and he didn't want to push the subject in Iris' face, but he really wanted to know what was going on so he tried to probe deeper. "Why?" he simply asked.

More tears started to roll down her face and off her cheeks. Suddenly she burst out in tears and buried herself into X's shoulder. X shook his head. He shouldn't have asked, it was between Zero and Iris, but then Iris started to speak between gasps of tears. "Zero and my brother are- are always fighting. They won't stop and I'm afraid- afraid- afraid one of them will be killed by the other. I just want this war to end X, I want this to all go away!"

The two sat there for a long time. X had put his arm around Iris to comfort her while she was crying away onto X's body. X didn't mind. He knew Zero and Iris were having a hard time with their relationship with the war on Repliforce. It was slowly tearing them apart. X didn't want this to happen, but there was nothing he could really do. What was he supposed to do? X knew however the thing that was really killing Iris was Colonel. Her brother and Zero were both battling it out all the time and Iris had strong feelings for them both. It was an odd relationship and X couldn't jump into it.

_Or could I?_ he thought to himself. He looked at Iris sobbing on his shoulder and then thought of Zero. _I have to do something, I must!_

He knew he had no right to interfere, but the way Iris and Zero were now it was immensely sad to see them at this state. "I'll talk to Zero about fighting your brother," X told Iris who had stopped sobbing and had just begun to cry slow steady drips of tears. She looked up at hit with bloodshot eyes and asked, "What will you say, X?" X wanted to answer, but couldn't. He didn't really know himself what he was going to say. "I'm not sure yet, but I will talk to him Iris, I promise." Iris gave a small smile and slowly started to calm down and rest on X.

* * *

Zero waited in the Meeting Room for what seemed like an hour. After seeing the clock Zero noticed he had waited an hour and X still wasn't showing.

"Where in the world could he have gone to?" Zero said to himself angrily as he paced the room. He was starting to get worried. At first he had thought that Frost Walrus might have beaten him, but Double had confirmed that he'd seen X after his mission. Zero sighed and sat back down in the chair at the head of a long table. The whole table was empty, except for himself.

Suddenly the door slid open and in walked X. He looked tired, but at the same time wide-awake.

"Sorry I'm late Zero." X said sitting down next to his red friend.

"Late!" Zero said angrily. "Jesus X, where did you go!?"

X looked down at the ground. He had promised Iris that he wouldn't tell Zero about his and her talk so instead of telling the truth he said, "I shut down for awhile. The fight against Frost Walrus was very tiring. I must have forgotten to set my alarm to activate again. Seriously Zero, I'm really sorry."

Zero nodded and handed X a file with some papers in it. X took the file and looked inside. Some of the papers were about the first Maverick: Storm Owl and the others were about the second Maverick: Cyber Peacock.

"Now," Zero said. "Storm Owl has set off with the Repliforce air ships. Someone's got to follow him before he wrecks some havoc. We probably would have caught him by now it you would have come earlier." X gave Zero a mean look, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead he continued talking. "The second Maverick Cyber Peacock has gone into cyber space and planted a bug. Someone has to destroy him before he can cause any harm with to the system. Any questions?"

Zero looked at X, but X just shook his head and said, "So who do you want to fight." Zero looked the papers and replied, "Well after about an hour of thinking I chose Cyber Peacock. He seems the type of Maverick I would enjoy defeating. I also think that I would be good at jumping from through the cyber areas." X nodded and said, "Well good because I was thinking about Storm Owl. He seems easy enough for me."

"You'll have to be quick to keep up with those ships. You up for that?" X nodded. "Good!" Zero said as he pushed himself up from his chair. "Let's get going."

With that Zero headed for the door, but X stopped him. "Zero," he said as he faced his friend. He wasn't ready to talk about Colonel with him, but he had to for Iris' sake.

"What, X?" Zero said, obviously annoyed for being held up once more.

"Ummm, about Colonel." Zero looked at X strangely and slowly said, "What?" He didn't really want to talk about his rival right now, especially after that battle they had had before. X opened his mouth, but quickly closed it. Once more he opened his mouth, but it automatically closed. _I'm not ready for this!_ X thought desperately. _I'm not ready for Zero to get mad at me!_

"What!" Zero literally screamed at X.

"Nothing," X said simply. "Nothing."

Zero rolled his eyes and passed X. By the time Mega Man X had gathered his courage to face Zero his red pal was already gone.

"I'm sorry Iris, I failed," X said as he sadly readied himself to teleport to Storm Owl's layer.


	11. A Fight to the Death

**A Fight to the Death**

* * *

Zero teleported into the station to find Iris by the main computer watching the screen. A news Reploid was at the space station reporting about something that Zero couldn't hear.

Hearing Zero come into the base, Iris turned around. "Repliforce is at the Space Harbor," she told him sadly. Desperately in her mind she hoped Zero would say something along the lines of, 'Repliforce, your brother must be there. I should talk this over with him, now's not the time to fight,' or 'Your brother is probably at the Space Harbor, X told me not to fight him so I should go speak with the Repliforce instead.' However that is not what came out of Zero's mouth. Instead he replied by saying, "I have to go."

Before he could finish Iris came up to him and took his hand. "No! Please Zero! I don't want to see you two fight!" Zero shook his head and snatched his hand away from Iris. He was determined to stop Repliforce even if it meant hurting Colonel. And Iris. "Someone has to stop your brother. I'm leaving." Before he could hear Iris pleas he teleported off.

* * *

Zero looked to his right and saw a group of Space Freighters with the Repliforce symbol on them. Zero snarled and ran forwards. Ahead of him was a huge gap. The gap was there to help transports come through easily. However there were some blocks in the air with some Repliforce soldiers on them. One of the soldiers threw a grenade at him. Zero jumped into the air, dodged it, and slashed down the soldier with his new purple Z-Saber. He had gotten a power-up from Slash Beast after defeating him, making his saber stronger and more agile. Jumping forward Zero dodged some fire from a soldier and cut him down. Then he jumped to another building through a window.

Inside was madness. Repliforce soldiers rushed to and forth, giant metal claws were picking up giant boxes and loading them into freighters, and in the center of the madness was a cycle of dust. Obviously something big was happening in the center of the room. Zero made his way forwards, cutting Repliforce soldiers and workers who got in his path and dared to interfere. The dust cycle had become bigger and charged buster shots could be heard from within it.

"X?" Zero said as he jumped into the cyclone. Inside was clam, but a little windy. Nothing could be seen through the brown wall of dust swirling around.

"Weird," Zero thought as he walked into the center of the cyclone.

Suddenly there was a great screech and a giant Repliforce Maverick came flying through the air at Zero. Zero had no time to act. The Maverick came at Zero with such force and speed Zero didn't see it. The last thing he saw was a white flash of something moving towards him and then a giant explosion. The Maverick had exploded before it hit Zero!

"What?" Zero said confused and relived. He looked behind him and was surprised to see Mega Man X.

"X!" Zero said rushing forwards.

X smiled and said, "The Repliforce will be taking off soon we have to stop them! Let's move forward and-" Suddenly there was another giant screech from behind and two more flying Mavericks came into the cyclone.

"Go Zero!" X yelled through the raging wind. "Colonel's up ahead, try to get him to stop the coup! But Zero don't fight with him!" Zero made a mean face and asked, "Why not?"

"For Iris!" X yelled and before he could say anything else he started to fire at the Mavericks. Zero rolled his eyes and jumped out of the cyclone in search of Colonel.

* * *

It was tough getting through the shield of Mavericks guarding the way to Colonel, but Zero made it through with more than half of his life still intact. Up ahead of him was a gate, leading on to Colonel.

"It's time, Colonel!" Zero yelled as he dashed through the gates and into the hallway. Zero readied himself for battle and walked through the next gate. Behind the gate was a small docking bay meant for one craft. Colonel was at the other end of the docking bay, watching the ships pass by. At first Colonel didn't notice Zero or so it seemed. Then he slowly turned and pulled out his purple sword. Zero was about to pull his sword out too, but something happened in his head. His mind wandered from Iris to X then to the rest of the Repliforce Mavericks.

"Don't fight him Zero, for Iris!" X's words were pounding his skull like a heartbeat.

"Please don't fight my brother!" Iris said in his head.

Then Zero realized he didn't have to fight, maybe he could just talk it out after all. "I'm doing this for Iris," he whispered to himself. "Because for everything she's done for me and the rest of the hunters, because of the things she's taught me, because she has made me a better person. Because-" Zero felt his mechanical heart beat faster and soon he felt tears spreading in his eyes.

"Because I love her."

Zero quickly blinked back the tears and faced Colonel, his arch-enemy face on and said, "I don't want to fight. Step back." Colonel put on a very serious face and said, "I'm sorry. I can't let you through."

Suddenly a red hot flame burst inside Zero's mind. Anger was swelling up inside him and he felt the urge for battle. He tried to contain himself but he couldn't. _For Iris!_ he thought inside his head, but the hate that burned inside of Zero was almost as great as his love for Iris.

"Iris will be sad if she loses you," he told him, hoping that he would listen to him and step aside.

"Don't be so presumptions Zero! Save it until after you've defeated me!"

Zero had had enough. With a mighty push Zero jumped into the air. He quickly pulled out his purple saber and slashed down on Colonel, but to his surprise he disappeared. Zero looked around worriedly. Suddenly Colonel appeared straight in front of Zero and slashed him in the stomach.

Zero doubled over backwards and before he could get up, Colonel disappeared again. Frightened, but still calm Zero looked around. Colonel was gone again! Forgetting the pain, Zero got up and walked forward. Suddenly Colonel appeared again and slashed Zero in the back. However, instead of disappearing once more he dashed to the side of the bay and started slashing at Zero even though he was at least 10 yards away.

Suddenly Zero noticed small slicers of sword coming at him. Zero ducked barely missing the first and had to jump on the docking bay wall to dodge the next two. After they had gone the Colonel had disappeared once more.

"Learned some new tricks this time!?" Zero yelled as he jumped back down on land. However, once again Colonel appeared once more and slashed Zero in the shoulder, barely missing his neck. He disappeared once more leaving Zero clutching his shoulder in pain. It was bleeding badly. From the short time Zero had been in the docking bay his life had already gone from good to critical.

Zero waited for a moment and the second the Colonel appeared he was ready. With a small jump in the air, Zero dodged the Colonel's sword. The Colonel dashed to the side of the docking bay and Zero quickly followed. Once there Zero started to slash madly at the Colonel, getting a good few hits in. Suddenly the Colonel slashed back and Zero was hit by the slicers from the Colonels sword. Zero yelled in pain and before he could attack back the Colonel disappeared again.

Zero growled and got ready for the Colonel to appear. He doubted if he could even jump, but he had to try. Suddenly the Colonel popped out of nowhere, but not where Zero was. He had appeared in the middle of the docking bay and was now raising his sword into the air. Taking this chance as an opportunity, Zero dashed forwards and started using a wide variety of attacks on him. Some of the attacks worked effectively and some not so good. Suddenly Colonel stabbed the ground with his sword and many balls of electricity came out, covering the floor and hitting Zero. Zero screamed and stood between the balls of energy. In a matter of seconds the balls shot up into the air missing Zero by a hair.

The battle continued for some time like this. Zero became better at dodging the shots, but Colonel did also. Soon each of them were down to just a small bit of energy. _This battle has to end soon!_ Zero thought as he dodged one of the Colonel's slicers. The Colonel disappeared again and suddenly appeared at the other side of the docking bay. Zero got ready to dodge his sword, but the Colonel didn't do anything, but stand there.

"This battle is already over," Colonel said through long, deep breaths.

"What?" Zero said, confused.

"Good bye Zero!" Colonel said and with a mighty slash with his sword a giant slicer came out covering the entire docking bay. Zero ran right and left, but the slice covered the entire bay! There was no way to dodge it. It was about to hit him.

_Good bye X_, Zero thought as he watched the slicer come closer and closer. He was ready for death, but not before he said goodbye. _Good bye Maverick Hunters. Good bye Iris._

The light of the slicer came closer and closer until all Zero could see was light. He screamed from the pain of the light and started to slash his sword. Suddenly the light was going away, in the other direction. _What?_ Zero thought as he watched the slicer. The slicer was going back towards Colonel! "My sword must had ricocheted it back!" Zero yelled in joy.

Suddenly his joy turned to fear as he watched the Colonel yell as the slice came closer. "Colonel!" Zero yelled as the slicer suddenly hit him. There was a great puff of smoke and the whole docking bay filled with the reek of burnt metal.

"Colonel!" Zero yelled through the thick dense black cloud of smoke. "Colonel!"

After a few moments the smoke cleared. Zero was afraid to look at what remained of Colonel. To his surprise Colonel was kneeling at the back of the docking bay. Half of his leg was gone, his hat was burnt along with half of his chest and his sword looked like it would conk out at any time. Zero felt a sad feeling, but at the same time a feeling of pride and success. Zero wanted to yell out, 'I told you Colonel,' but he held himself back for doing so. He had to be respectful, even if the person dying was his arch-enemy.

"Impressive Zero," Colonel said weakly, leaning on his sword. "But it's to late."

Taken aback Zero yelled out, "What?"

"Repliforce has left for space! Repliforce will build a new life!" Colonel yelled out proudly. Zero couldn't help, but feel pity for him. "Colonel."

Before Colonel died he said his final words to Zero: "Zero, tell Iris that her brother died happily! Good bye Zero!" There were several explosions and before Zero could reach Colonel he had already left the Earth.

"Colonel!" Zero screamed as he slammed the wall with his fist. He knew Iris would be so disappointed in him when he got back to the Maverick Hunter Base.


	12. Heartbroken

**Heartbroken**

* * *

When Zero got the Maverick Hunter Base Iris was nowhere around. He quickly ran down the corridor looking around everywhere for Iris while the siren kept repeating, "They've left for outer space! Scramble all Maverick Hunters!" Zero however was barely paying attention to the siren. He was still in search of Iris.

"Where are you? Iris!" Zero ran back to the main control room, but Iris wasn't there either. Suddenly a slow realization spread across Zero's mind. "She left with them? No!"

"Maverick Hunters! Scramble!" The siren kept on yelling.

"I'm on my way! Don't do this to me, Iris," he whispered. He then teleported to The Final Weapon in outer space.

* * *

Zero landed in the Final Weapon with fire burning in his eyes. The Final Weapon was massive! It looked like a giant laser and in fact, it was a giant laser, a laser that could destroy the Earth in one hit. Zero had to stop it. He ran forwards, careful not to get hit by the many lasers that were planted through out the room.

He was in a hallway at the moment and by the looks of it the hallway didn't seem very long. Zero ran forwards and destroyed a missile machine along with two lasers. He then continued. More of these machines appeared, but Zero quickly slashed them away. Before he knew it he was at the end of the hallway and above him was a gate leading into a hallway and then into another larger room.

Zero jump-kicked up the wall, slashing a laser down along the way and then he entered the hallway. It was full of wires and machinery like the rest of the ship. Zero would just stick his laser in the wires to stop The Final Weapon, but he was afraid the weapon might blow up and the world along with it. So Zero continued on through the next gate and into the next room.

"And who could be in here?" Zero asked himself as he dropped from the ceiling to the floor. "A Maverick, a Repliforce scum, a-"

Whatever Zero was going to say it didn't come out. The person in the room was the last person Zero excepted. It was a person he thought and hoped he would never ever have to fight. It was Iris. She was holding a glowing, purple, ball in her hands and she looked very angry.

"Iris!" Zero yelled, happy and a little bit nervous to see her.

"So you fought with my brother," she said sadly as she faced Zero. Zero started to feel bad. All he could say to Iris was, "I'm sorry."

"Then it's over! Everything," she snapped at him.

Zero was in awe. Iris was challenging him! A class SA Maverick Hunter?

"Wait Iris! Listen to me!" He tried to yell.

"Good bye Zero," she said sadly and harsh as she threw the ball into the air.

"Iris!" Zero yelled, but it was no use. Iris was concentrating on the ball, not on Zero.

Zero looked up and noticed that the ball was heading towards the ceiling. It stopped once it reached the top and what it did next Zero would have never guessed. The ball exploded into a giant purple crystal, a little bit smaller than Zero himself. The crystal then shot a beam of purple light down on Iris and suddenly pieces of armor started to appear on her body. The whole process took about ten seconds and now Iris was challenging him to a duel.

Zero didn't want to fight. He didn't want to fight his love, the only person he ever really loved. However, Iris didn't stop for a second thought. She lunged straight at Zero. Her armor was about three Zero's put together, it had wings, and a giant purple arm cannon that could fire like a fully charged laser.

Zero's eyes suddenly became fierce and concentrated. He was in his fighting mode and was ready to take on anybody. Even Iris.

"This isn't Iris! I must defeat it!" Zero said aloud as he lunged for Iris. He attacked her with great force and showed no mercy. His slashes were long and hard and left huge gashes. Every time Zero hit the armor it would send out two mines which became a hassle. They kept hitting Zero, making him weaker and weaker. Zero quickly made quick waste of these and noticed that the crystal had come out of Iris' body. Getting ready to lunge at it, Zero back against the wall and then dashed forward to it. Once he was close enough to it he started to slash at it madly.

Iris however wasn't going to let Zero win. She had other plans. Getting ready for her ultimate attack she ordered the crystal to get below Zero. It obeyed perfectly and followed below Zero wherever he went. Then she raised her arm cannon and fired.

Zero quickly jump-kicked up the wall and kept there waiting for the laser to die down. However, he forgot about the purple crystal below him. Iris smiled from within her armor.

"Dodge this Zero." There was whirling noise and the crystal shot a laser upwards. Zero didn't have a chance to move. The laser hit him from underneath and he fell to the ground with a clank.

"Urrrraaaaaahhhhhh!" Zero yelled as he got up and slashed at the crystal. Iris machine started to smoke and an odd noise came from it. Zero stared the machine straight in the eyes right where Iris' eyes should have been. He then slashed at the crystal one last time and there was a bright flash of light.

Zero watched as all the pieces of the armor fell off and Iris' body falls to the floor. Zero smiled at a job well done. He had defeated another Maverick and the world was once more safe.

Or was it?

Slowly the realization of what Zero had just done was coming to him. He had hurt Iris, he might have killed her. "No!" He yelled as he started to run forwards toward Iris' body.

"Iris!" He yelled. Her eyes were closed and she didn't respond.

"Iris!" He yelled again, but to yet no answer.

He had reached her and was now kneeling next to her. Suddenly great relief flooded back into Zero. Iris opened her eyes! However she was still bleeding badly.

"Zero," she said weakly.

"Hang in there Iris," he said to her as he checked her wounds. Her two legs were bleeding badly and he face had scratches all over it.

"Please," she said to Zero still lying on the floor, not moving. "Stay away from Repliforce, let's live in a world where only reploids exist." Iris said weakly. Zero shook his head and said, "Iris there is no world just for reploids. It's only a fantasy." Iris slowly shook her head and said, "Yes, I know. But I wanted to believe it! I wanted to live in a world where only reploids exist."

She stopped and slowly raised her hand to Zero's chest as to touch him the last time. Then she slowly said, "With you."

Zero clasped his hands around Iris'. He couldn't let her die like this. Not now, not today. "Iris," Zero slowly said as he watched her close her eyes. Right before her main computer went out she saw Zero's face. For the one last time. She smiled and slowly died.

"Iris!" Zero said to her, not accepting the fact that she was gone. "Iris! Iris!" He yelled again. He lifted her head into his arms and started to gently shake her. "Iris!" He said again, but he knew she was gone. Gone forever. Never to return to Zero again.

"Iris," Zero said sadly knowing the truth. He couldn't bear it. He couldn't take it! He quickly lifted Iris up in his arms and started to yell, "No! This isn't happening! There's no reason for me to go on! What- What am I fighting for!?"

Zero slowly started to cry on Iris' limp body. She was gone and Zero now had nothing to live for. He couldn't bear life without Iris. He loved her and now she was gone. But he had a mission to complete! Slowly he stopped crying and placed Iris slowly on the floor. He needed to stop the Repliforce no matter what it took.

As Zero walked away he couldn't dare looked back, but he had too. With one last glance at Iris' body in the darkness he started to cry once more. Zero was lost forever. There was nothing more to life now.

Zero was heartbroken.


	13. Sigma's Return

**Sigma's Return**

* * *

Zero ran forwards and into the teleport, but not before he nabbed the large energy capsule to his right. Zero had already gone through a living nightmare inside The Final Weapon. He had killed Iris, he fought with the General, once he beat the General the General told him that someone else was controlling The Final Weapon, so Zero had to fight the eight Mavericks once more along with X who Zero had found inside The Final Weapon, now X was hurt by one of the Mavericks and had to return to the Hunter Base and Zero was the only one left to enter the last teleport.

Zero took a deep intake of air and walked forwards into the teleport. In a matter of seconds he found himself inside a room. The Main Computer for The Final Weapon was behind Zero who was standing on a large balcony. Zero was surprised to see an older looking man floating in the air with a cloak over him. He was holding what looked like an electric scythe. Zero watched him and the man laughed. He then said, "Good work, Zero!"

Instantly Zero recognized the voice. It was an old arch-enemy, one he and X had faced many times in the past. It was Sigma!

"You're, Sigma!" Zero yelled as he pointed a finger at Sigma's floating body. "So it was you!"

Sigma smiled under his hood and laughed once more before he said, "Yes! Simply brilliant! You even defeated Colonel and Iris!"

A flush of anger came across Zero's face and he began to become angry. "You made me do it!" Zero said pulling out his Z-Saber. Zero expected Sigma to laugh but instead he said, "No. You wanted to destroy them. Allow me to remind you that I was once the leader of the Maverick Hunters." Suddenly Zero was forced to bring up old memories he didn't want to remember.

Memories that sent chills down Zero's mechanical spine. A memory that was so secret that Zero hadn't even told X about it. The memories started to come.

* * *

Zero was inside a cave killing off Maverick Hunters until they were all gone. He was in a mad state. A Maverick state.

He remembered as Sigma walked in. Zero heard him so he turned around and gave a mad punch at Sigma. All Sigma had to do was side step and Zero's fist hit thin air. Confused and madder Zero punched at Sigma again, but Sigma just dashed away and Zero hit the cave wall, leaving a huge punch mark. Sigma smiled as Zero came out of the shadows. He then yelled and ran for Zero. Zero did the same, but ran for Sigma. When they reached each other Zero started to rapidly punch at Sigma. To his surprise, Sigma just dodged the attacks as if it were nothing.

After a while Sigma yelled and released a mighty kick in the face. He yelled and went reeling backwards into some oil drums. Zero growled as he watched Sigma stalk towards him. "Yaaaa!" He yelled as he tried to punch Sigma's stomach, but he hit nothing. He tried an uppercut to the jaw, but his fist missed once more. Zero yelled once more and continued to rapidly punch and Sigma's body. Sigma dodged these easily, smiling all the way through the process.

After about the twentieth time Zero tried to hit him, Sigma took Zero's arm, lifted his body over Sigma's head and slammed Zero back on the ground. Still holding onto his arm, Sigma threw Zero up into the air. Zero yelled as he zoomed towards the ceiling. There was a crunch and Zero's head was soon caught into the dirt. His head was stuck on the ceiling. Sigma smiled at his success, but suddenly Zero pushed himself out of the dirt. He was hanging onto two pipes to support his weight on either side of him. Before he fell back to the ground he pulled off one of the pipes in order to use it as a weapon.

Falling towards the ground Zero threw the pipe at Sigma. Sigma angrily knocked the pipe away with a sweep of his arm and jumped up into the air with his fist held high. Zero, still falling, made a fist also and fell straight towards Sigma. The two fists collided in midair causing them both to reel backwards onto the floor.

Zero was the first to get up, but Sigma didn't waist any time either. He was up as soon as he could, but Zero was already to him, punching madly into the air. Sigma dodged the attacks once more, but could tell that the Maverick was getting better. He couldn't keep this going. Quickly he jumped into the air and landed on a catwalk above. Zero jumped up too, doing a summersault in midair. He landed on the catwalk opposite Sigma. Sigma smiled and pulled out his sword.

"Try beating me with this you filthy maverick!" Sigma yelled. Zero smiled and pulled yet another pipe off of the wall to his right. He was going to defeat this hunter one way or another.

Sigma and Zero jumped into the air at the same time, wielding their weapons in their hands. The two collided with their swords. Each banging each other back to their original positions back on the floor. Sigma slashed at Zero's chest hoping to injure him, but Zero easily blocked the attack. Sigma continued to do two more slashes, each stopped by Zero's pipe.

_He's skilled with a sword, that much is easy to see, _Sigma thought as both he and Zero jumped backwards from each other. _He would make a nice second hand man with the Maverick Hunters_, Sigma continued to think. He watched as the red maverick jumped into the air with his pipe, ready to strike. _But now I must focus on the fight at hand, it's imperative that I get that pipe away from him as soon as possible_!

Sigma jumped forwards with his sword also raised. The two once again collided in midair, but this time they didn't bounce away from each other. They continued to fight while falling through the air.

Slash left, slash right. It was no use. His sword couldn't get any close to the maverick. There was only one thing left to do. With great speed and strength Sigma slashed at Zero's pipe. The pipe was cut clean in half, but it was still long enough to use as a sword. Sigma watched as the maverick smiled. _He's up to something,_ Sigma thought as he slashed once more. He was surprised to notice that the maverick didn't block the attack. Instead he sidestepped and slashed his pipe.

Suddenly there was an intense pain in Sigma's left arm. Sigma didn't dare look at his arm. He didn't want to know what had happened. He tried to move it, but nothing happened. He couldn't take it anymore; he had to look before he drove himself crazy.

Taking a deep gulp of air, Sigma looked at his arm. He expected to see a bloody, humongo gash or maybe some wires sticking out of it, but instead he saw nothing. Nothing at all. For there was nothing to see. Sigma's arm was flying off to his left, the saber still clutched in its hand.

Sigma yelled in pain and started to groan. The pain was growing and it started to drip blood. Sigma turned to face the maverick. He clutched his arm tightly as if to squeeze the pain out of it, but it didn't help. The maverick started to laugh. A huge evil laugh. Sigma stared at him in fright. He had never seen a maverick so powerful, so unique.

The maverick stood close to Sigma now, leaning over his body in triumph. "Time to finish you off," the maverick said as he took Sigma's remaining hand. With all of the maverick's strength he picked up Sigma's body and kicked him in the face. Sigma went flying backwards, skidding along the gravel on the floor. His face was scared and you could see the metal bone beneath his skin. The maverick laughed and pinned Sigma to the ground. He then continued to pull up Sigma's head as if to break it off.

Sigma yelled in pain as his wires started to break. _This is the end_, he thought as the red maverick continued to laugh. _I'm finished_.

Suddenly the maverick stopped laughing and took his hands away from Sigma. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" He screamed in pain as he held his hands on his crystal embedded in his forehead. Sigma turned to watch. The maverick seemed as if he was in immense pain. It was nothing Sigma had ever seen before.

"It's time to put you out of your misery!" Sigma growled as he got up from the ground. He growled and tightened his fist. He carefully aimed and then let out a mighty punch. His fist zoomed through the air and came smashing down on the maverick's crystal, shattering it to pieces. Suddenly everything seemed to stop. There was no sound, nothing moving, nothing. Then the maverick fell. He fell to the ground, defeated. Sigma stood over his body for one minute before spitting into Zero's face.

That's the last thing Zero remembered.

* * *

Suddenly he was back. Back inside the main computer room for The Final Weapon. Sigma was floating in front of him and even though Zero couldn't see Sigma's face because of the hood, he could tell that he was smiling.

"Zero!" He yelled in a laughing matter. "You were a maverick!"

"What's your point! Are you surprised?" Zero asked him. He was wondering why Sigma was bringing up this ancient topic. It was pointless.

"Ah, Zero," Sigma said to him. "You're most impressive!" Zero watched as Sigma took his electric scythe in both hands and got into a fighting stance.

"Sigma," Zero said putting his purple Z-Saber in a fighting position. "I will defeat you!" Zero rushed forwards with a yell and slashed down on Sigma, but to his surprise Sigma disappeared.

"What!" Zero yelled.

He looked around the room, but no one was around. "Just like Colonel!" Zero told himself.

Suddenly Sigma appeared above Zero's head. He slashed his reaper down on Zero, but Zero ducked just in time. Sigma disappeared once more and Zero waited for his return. Sigma once again appeared above Zero, but this time Zero was ready. He quickly dashed to the wall, kicked up it and jumped over to Sigma. While falling through the air he slashed down on Sigma making him fall to the ground. Once on the ground Sigma disappeared again before Zero could get any more attacks in.

Zero waited for Sigma to appear above him but instead he appeared to his right. Sigma dashed forwards with great speed, knocking into Zero. Zero fell backwards, but quickly regained his stance and jumped over to Sigma.

The fight continued, Sigma and Zero were both slashing at each other with their weapons. Zero noticed that Sigma wielded his scythe like a sword. The battle continued for some time and soon Zero was able to cut Sigma's cloak to shreds reveling his true body. Sigma was breathing heavily, but Zero wasn't. Sigma wasn't really becoming a challenge. To Zero he was just another ordinary Maverick. Nothing much.

"I've been waiting for you Zero! It's time to finish this!" Sigma yelled at him. Sigma shouted out a war cry and charged at Zero. Zero quickly jumped up on the wall and waited for Sigma to calm down. Sigma growled and threw his scythe at Zero, which hit him dead on. Zero fell to the ground in pain and lifted himself up. However Sigma was too fast. The moment Zero got up from the ground Sigma magically called his scythe back to his hand and threw it at Zero once more. The scythe hit Zero's cheek making blood slap to the floor. Sigma laughed as Zero weakly stumbled to the wall to rest.

"The surprises don't end there, Zero!" Sigma told him as he called the scythe back to his hand. Zero got ready for the next blow from Sigma. He watched as Sigma raised his scythe above his hand and instantly tightened his muscles. Sigma threw the scythe and it instantly came hurling a Zero.

Bam! The scythe hit Zero's shoulder and went straight threw it and out the other side. Zero screamed in pain and watched as blood oozed from his shoulder. Sigma laughed and called the scythe back towards him, but this time he aimed his hand at the ground. The scythe instantly hit that ground and Zero watched helplessly as bolts of electricity surged threw the floor and connected to Zero's body, frying his circuits. Zero yelled and screamed, but to no use. He couldn't stop the pain. Sigma just laughed and walked straight up to him. Apparently the electricity didn't affect him.

"So this is the end of the great and mighty Zero," Sigma said as he watched Zero suffer. "I'll finish you off quick and easily Zero." Sigma said as he called the scythe from the ground stopping the flow of electricity. "I'm doing this Zero because I have respect for you. I have respect for all the Maverick Hunters, especially X and you." Zero watched as Sigma retreated to the far end of the catwalk and raised his scythe. "That's why Zero you will die quick and painless. Good-bye Zero, my worthy rival." Sigma aimed the scythe for Zero's head and before Zero could react he threw.

The electric scythe went sizzling through the air leaving a trail of smoke behind it. Zero watched this. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Everything was moving very slowly, very precise. Zero watched as the scythe came spinning towards his head and he suddenly remembered Iris. Iris, his one and true love.

"No!" Zero suddenly yelled. He jumped up into the air and onto the wall.

"What?" Sigma yelled as he watched Zero. The scythe had already hit the wall and was now sending electricity threw it, but Zero was long gone. He was already soaring into the air and down at Sigma. He landed in front of Sigma and instantly started slashing at him. Sigma yelled and backed against the wall. He quickly called his scythe to his hand and smiled. The scythe was coming straight for Zero's back, at Sigma and Zero.

As the scythe sizzled through the air, Zero noticed something. The sound of electricity on the wall had stopped and even though Zero was slashing at Sigma, creating cuts on him he was still smiling. Instantly sensing danger Zero jumped backwards and landed behind the spinning scythe. Sigma growled and caught the scythe in midair. Zero yelled and dashed forward. When he got to Sigma he instantly slashed downwards, trying to cut Sigma in half, but Sigma blocked the attack with his scythe. Zero however didn't care. He continued to slash, trying to hit Sigma, but it was no use. There was no way to hit Sigma while he had his scythe.

_Then the scythe has to go!_ Zero thought as Sigma blocked yet another one of his attacks. Zero quickly kept Sigma distracted and when he least expected it Zero's foot came swinging through the air and knocked the scythe straight out of Sigma's hands. The scythe bounced away leaving marks in the metal and before Sigma could call it back it was already falling off the edge of the balcony. Sigma yelled as it went down, down, down and then Sigma heard a horrible crack!

"No!" He yelled as he turned back to Zero whose sword was raised in the air. Zero had a menacing look in his eyes like he did when he was enjoying fighting a maverick. Sigma smiled and saw that since Zero had his sword up in the air, his chest was wide open. Sigma yelled and blasted Zero with a laser. Zero went flying backwards all the way across the balcony and to the other side. "Where did that laser come from?" Zero yelled as he looked at his chest.

There weren't any huge, bloody marks, but his chest was dented badly and was sizzling hot. Zero growled and looked up. Another laser fired. Zero rolled to the right and saw the laser hit the wall. Zero looked up and saw that Sigma was firing the lasers from his very own eyes.

Zero growled and quickly got up. He wasn't going to let Sigma win after all he had done. Zero dashed forwards with his sword aimed forward. Sigma with his amazing eyes instantly saw Zero coming and started firing lasers like crazy. However, Zero was too fast. He just turned left and right and then left again to avoid the lasers. Sigma watched him come closer and closer with his sword aimed right at his chest. Sigma tried to move out of harms way, but Zero was just to fast. Sigma felt a pain in his stomach and looked down. Zero's sword handle was sticking in his stomach. The rest of the purple saber couldn't be seen, it was deep inside Sigma's body.

Zero laughed and pulled the sword out of the maverick's body. Sigma however slumped to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the wall. Zero smiled as Sigma gave him a mean look before he blew. Sigma started to blow. Pieces went this way and that, but Zero avoided them with ease. He was enjoying Sigma's death too much to care about the flying pieces.

He had done it; he had defeated the leader of the mavericks. Sigma. Zero smiled triumphantly and head for the stairway leading to the main computer. It was all over now. The Earth was saved, Sigma was gone, the Repliforce had been stopped, X was-

There was a great whooshing sound and Zero felt him fall through the catwalk below. A mysterious hole had suddenly appeared and Zero was now falling deep inside the Final Weapon. However when Zero hit the floor he was right by the main computer. However, that wasn't what Zero was looking at. Zero was looking in front of him with a horrified expression on his face. Straight in front of the Zero was Sigma, but not exactly.

There were four Sigma heads: one red, one blue, one yellow, and a head that looked like it was completely made out of junk. Zero yelled. It seemed every time X or himself fought with Sigma he always had a backup plan and this looked like it. However this time X wasn't around. Zero watched as all the heads, but the blue one went to the left side of the room. The yellow and red ones suddenly grew spikes on the outside of their heads.

Zero listened as the head said, "Ha ha ha! You're finished Zero! Iris is waiting for you!" Zero felt a flush of anger and watched the blue head open his mouth and started spitting out little droplets of water. Zero laughed as the water fell to the floor. "This is Sigma's amazing backup plan!" Zero yelled and he reached out to touch the water. He yelped when it touched him. The "water" had burnt a small dent into Zero's palm. Zero yelled and jumped up into the air.

Once in the air he started to slash at the head, but he couldn't destroy it before he fell back to the ground. As he fell he slashed his sword in the air and noticed that the water droplets could be denigrated with on slash of his sword. When Zero hit the ground all the heads moved to the right side of the room except for the red one that had lost its spikes. The blue one now had them. Zero got ready for the attack that the red head gave by getting into a jumping position. He was going to jump and hit the head while it was attacking.

Zero waited for a moment and then the head opened its mouth. Out came four small walls of fire, each heading for Zero. Zero quickly jumped over them and slashed at the red head. As he got nearer to the head he landed on it and started slashing at it. That's when it moved once more. This time the mechanical head came and started sucking in everything it could. Junk from the gigantic room he was in started to fly into Sigma's mouth. Zero dashed the opposite way, hoping he wouldn't get sucked into the mouth, but suddenly, out of a dark shadow a huge metal box came flying out of the air and smacked into Zero sending him flying backwards into Sigma's mouth.

It was dark inside the mouth and very crunched up. It was getting hot and metal things were scratching against him. That's when the head spit him back out. He felt a weird sensation as he flew through the air, metal boxes hitting him along the way.

He fell to the floor in a slump. He was badly injured. His cut on his arm was bleeding again and a new scratch was on his chest. Zero moaned and weakly watched as the faces changed places once more.

This time all of the faces lined up above Zero. The yellow was in the middle. Zero got ready as the yellow head opened its mouth and started shooting electric balls at him. Zero dodged the first, which hit the floor and caused an electric shook much like the one Sigma used when he threw his scythe at the ground. Zero quickly dodged this, making sure not to get hit by it again. He didn't want to feel the pain again. Zero dashed to the other side of the room as the second electricity ball came. He watched as the ball hit the wall and the electricity went off and the one on the floor stopped. He didn't even notice the third electric ball come straight into his head. Zero felt another jolting sensation and he fell to the floor.

"Ahhhhh!" He screamed as he watched the heads switch places again. He didn't know what was next. He watched as the flying heads flew to the side of the room and formed a sort of stairway. None of them grew spikes to Zero's great relief. A humming sound came behind Zero and he turned to see what the noise was. A huge, purple robot had appeared out of nowhere with Sigma's head on it. The robot held a gigantic gun the size of four Zero's mashed together in its robotic hands.

"Crap," Zero said as he quickly got up.

There were a series of noises and lasers started popping out of the machine wherever Zero was. Zero dashed past the lasers, dodging them with ease. The stairway that the heads made was great help. Once the laser stopped the robot went away and the heads formatted again. This time the blue head came out of the crowd once more. Zero got ready as the mouth opened and more water sprinkled out.

Zero dodged the water and started slashing madly at the head. As the head closed its mouth, Zero fell to the ground and looked up at it. _Maybe fire might work against this water head,_ Zero thought and he readied himself under the head and right before the heads changed places, Zero jumped upwards using the weapon he had earned from Magma Dragoon. Flames surrounded Zero's sword as he zoomed upwards and hit the head. There was a bang and the head exploded. Zero smiled and waited for the red head to appear.

_ Maybe Frost Walrus' weapon may be of use to the fire head!_ Zero thought as he waited for the heads to form. However instead of the red head the mechanical head came back. Zero sighed and was ready to start dashing away the moment the mechanical head opened its mouth. But instead of sucking in the head started to blow! Zero watched as he was blown towards the colored heads on the other side of the room. As Zero came closer to them he suddenly noticed that the heads had grown spikes. Zero yelled and started to dash in the direction of the mechanical head. He wasn't going to get killed by falling into spikes!

Then to Zero's relief the mechanical head stopped blowing and the heads lost their spikes. Zero quickly dashed forwards and got a few good hits on the mechanical head before it zoomed away and the red head came out. Zero smiled and jumped into the air even before the head had a chance to open its mouth. Then Zero aimed downwards with his sword and started to fall. Ice instantly covered his sword and smashed down on the head. However it didn't break, but it did start to smoke. It quickly opened its mouth and spit out four more walls of fire. Zero didn't have a chance to react. The fire came at him and instantly washed over him.

_Its not to bad_, Zero thought as he started to burn. However he still did get injured, but luckily his hole in his shoulder didn't start to bleed. Zero smiled and quickly took a slash at the head. It blew with such force it knocked Zero backwards. Zero quickly got up and brushed himself off and started to watch the heads move once more.

This time the yellow head came again. Zero didn't know what to use against electricity so he used his regular sword attacks while dodging the electricity. Once the yellow head was finished attacking it and the mechanical head formed the stairway again.

Zero didn't get the chance to beat the yellow head. "I'll have to try harder next time!" Zero said to himself as he faced the giant robot that had appeared once more.

Zero was ready to dash to avoid the lasers, but instead of the lasers coming out the robot said, "The end."

"What?" Zero said as the robot aimed its laser at him.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and a gigantic laser popped out of the sword. Zero quickly jumped up the staircase and quickly avoided death. Zero watched as the laser passed.

_It's gigantic!_ Zero thought to himself as he watched the laser. It was two times bigger then any normal laser would have been and it probably would have killed Zero in one shot if it had hit him. _Where does Sigma get this fire power?_ Zero thought as the robots stopped firing and retreated into the shadows.

Zero smiled and dropped off the head. Then he watched as the mechanical head came down and started to suck in. Zero made sure that he didn't get hit this time and when the head was done he quickly finished it off by doing some of his best sword moves. "This battles already over!" Zero said to himself as he watched the last head (not including the robot head) appear.

Zero watched as the yellow head opened its mouth and started firing electric balls at Zero. Zero quickly dodged the first and second, but the last hit the floor while Zero was still standing on it. Zero once again felt a jolting sensation run through his body and he instantly fell to the floor. Zero groaned as he watched the yellow head retreat away.

"Damn that yellow head," Zero said weakly as he lay on the floor.

"The end."

Suddenly Zero sat up bolt right. He had completely forgotten his pain and realized that the gigantic robot was about to fire on him. "No!" Zero yelled and he quickly got up. He started to run for the yellow head as the laser shot. "I have to outrun it!" Zero yelled to himself.

The laser was getting closer and closer to Zero as he ran. Zero was also getting weaker and more tired of fighting.

_I'm not going to make it_, he thought. _It's all over for me_, Zero thought as he felt the laser heat on the back of his neck. Then, through the gloom he saw it. The yellow head!

Zero jumped forwards just before the laser hit him. And with extreme accuracy he landed on the head. Zero smiled weakly as the robot head retreated again and Zero got back on the ground. And so the battle went on. The same thing happened again and again until the yellow head was destroyed.

"Now its time for you!" Zero said as he faced the purple robot. Zero quickly turned and ran as he heard the words, "The end." However he quickly realized all the heads were gone and there was no stairway. "Crap!" Zero yelled as he heard the laser sizzle towards him. Zero did nothing. He watched as the laser came closer too him. There was no dodging it. _Sigma's finally won this time!_ Zero thought as the laser came closer.

The only thing Zero could do to make a few more seconds in his life was jump. He jumped high into the air as the laser sizzled and cracked beneath him. Then Zero felt himself falling, falling towards the laser. "No!" Zero yelled as he tried to move his body forwards. His body responded and Zero landed on the robots head. "Die!" Zero yelled and he started to wildly stab at the robots head. "No!" The robot yelled in agony as it started to explode.

Zero smiled. He had done it, the world was saved! But then Zero started to fall, fall to the ground. Then his head hit the ground and everything went blank.

* * *

Zero awoke some time later. The hole in his arm had stopped bleeding and Zero felt relatively better. He just needed to get back to Earth and fix up his wounds. Zero got up and took a look around.

The room was a mess. Scrap metal from the Sigma Heads were everywhere, boxes and machinery were lying on the ground and the giant robotic Sigma was in ruins to Zero's right. To Zero's surprise the robot was still laughing.

"What's so funny?" Zero asked the robot in a mean tone.

The Sigma face on the machine smiled and said, "This weapon is aimed at Earth. No one can stop it."

Suddenly Zero's worst nightmare had come true. The weapon couldn't be stopped; there was nothing Zero could do about. Earth, and all of its inhabitants were going to be destroyed. Zero was so shocked that all he could get out of him was a weak, "No!"

The Sigma robot started to laugh once more. It sparked a few times and then started to blow. "Good bye, Zero!" It said in a happy voice as it blew up and was killed.

Zero looked around. The main computer for The Final Weapon was in front of Zero. "There has to be a way to stop it!" Zero growled as he dashed forwards. In the distance he could see a large figure. As Zero got closer he could make out the figure as the General.

"General!" Zero said as he dashed forwards to him. General was still wounded from his earlier fight with Zero. He was clutching his arm in pain and part of his leg looked like it had been literally chopped off. Besides that all he had were a few scratches. He could still live if Earth weren't going to be destroyed.

"Zero, I was wrong," the General made out weakly. "Sigma blinded me from the truth." Zero couldn't help, but feel sorry for the General. He looked like he was in more pain then Zero himself.

"It's okay," Zero told him trying to comfort him. Zero didn't want to tell the General that the Earth was about to be destroyed, but he had a strange feeling that the General already knew. "Rest," Zero told him.

The General ignored Zero and said, "With my body I can stop the weapon." Zero couldn't believe what the General was saying. He would never have thought that any reploid would have the guts to kill himself for the planet.

"But then you'll-" Zero started to talk but the General cut him off.

"It's over for this soldier. Farewell."

Zero amazingly watched as the General crouched down with his injured leg and jumped into the computer. "General!" Zero yelled as he watched the General's body disappear into a hole in the computer.

There was a small explosion and then a larger one. Suddenly the alarms started to blare and the main computer started to blow. Zero dashed towards a rocket nearby. It was the only way he was going to make it out of the weapon alive. Zero jumped into the rocket and opened the hanger door. Another blast echoed nearby and the whole weapon shook. Zero activated the ship and rocketed out of the hanger. A few minutes later the whole Final Weapon blew.

And then the flashbacks started to end.


	14. A Lost Love

**A Lost Love**

* * *

_Several months after Iris' death and the destruction of The Final Weapon:_

"Iris! Iris."

"Zero."

"Hang in there Iris."

"Please, stay away from Repliforce. Let's live in a world where only reploids exist."

"Iris, there is no world only for reploids. It's only a fantasy."

"Yes, I know. But I wanted to believe it! I wanted to live in a world where only reploids exist, with you."

"Iris!"

The words still hung freshly in Zero's mind. He couldn't let Iris go. He thought about her everyday. He thought about all the bad things he'd done for her and all the things she'd done for him. It tortured him everyday. It was slowly driving him mad, but in a way he was happy these thoughts were still in his mind. He was happy Iris was still in his memory. She was too hard to let go.

"I'll never forget you Iris," Zero said sadly. He slowly started to cry. He cried for a long time, Iris still in his mind. He cried and cried until X came in, but even then he didn't stop crying. He couldn't stop thinking about Iris, it was too hard.

"Let her go Zero," X said as he sat down next to his friend.

"Please go X," Zero said. He didn't feel like being talked to right now.

"I can't Zero." X told him. "I hate to see you like this." Zero sighed and shook his head.

"You don't understand, X," Zero told him.

X laughed and said, "I understand Zero. She went crazy and tried to kill you. You had every right to kill her."

Zero growled and said, "You're not helping, X. Just leave."

X shook his head once more and said, "No. You have to let her go Zero. It was your mission to stop the Repliforce and kill her brother."

Zero had had it. "X, get out!" Zero said standing up from his chair. He had stopped crying and was now flushed with anger.

"I was just trying to help Zero!" X yelled at him. "I understand, Zero. Just let her go."

"You don't understand, X!" Zero snapped back at him. "Have you ever been loved, X? Have you?" X looked at the ground in shame. "I didn't think so!" Zero yelled. "You were never loved by anyone, not by the Maverick Hunters, not by Dr. Cain, and not by whoever put you in that damned capsule for 100 years! That's why they put you there X! Because nobody liked you, so your creator stuck you in a capsule. No, X! You don't understand!"

There was silence. Zero was staring at X red in the face and X was staring at the ground.

"You're right Zero," X said finally as he headed for the door. "I don't understand, I should have never interfered." And with that X left the room.

Once X had gone, Zero said nothing. He did nothing at all for a few minutes and then he finally said, "What have I done?"

* * *

Zero walked down the corridor of the new Maverick Hunter Base thinking of Iris, but mostly X. _X looked really hurt_, Zero thought as he continued walking. _I should apologize._ He thought as he continued to walk. Suddenly the alarm rang.

"Calling Zero! Calling Zero! Please report to the main computer room!" Zero nodded and ran to the computer room. There he met his captain Signas.

"What's up?" Zero said, slightly sadly. Signas didn't seem to notice though. Instead he said, "Sigma appeared by the new statue the city's building. X went there, but we haven't heard from him yet. We think he's in trouble."

Suddenly Zero's face went blank and his hands went numb. "I have to help X, I have to apologize before something bad happens to him. He's in trouble," Zero said his thoughts out loud.

"What was that, Zero?" Signas asked.

Zero looked at him and quickly said, "Nothing. I'm on my way!"

And so Zero teleported off in search of X. He was sure X and him would be fine and still be pals. "After all, he was only trying to help," Zero kept reminding himself. So everything was fine in Zero's mind, but he would always be heartbroken over Iris. He would always have a large hole in his heart for her. And he would never forget the love they had together. In his heart he would always be with Iris. Forever.

**The End**


	15. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

* * *

Well this is extremely nostalgic. This would be my second Author's Note for this story, written almost nine years after the original. It is 2013 now but I remember writing Heartbroken: Iris & Zero in 2004 when I was but a wee lad. I always found the relationship between Iris and Zero something that was unique in the Mega Man series, because there isn't a lot of actual romance in the series. So I can see why I was drawn to write about these two characters over the others.

All those years ago I had ideas for sequels involving other game characters and the hardships they face when they lose a loved one. Even if it was a friendship, such as Link and Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which were going to be the two main stars of my next work. Although I got a couple of pages finished, I doubt the story will ever be completed because I'm done with writing fan fiction to focus on my own original work.

If you were to ask me what I thought about this story here I'd tell you its pretty crap. I'm my biggest critic and I can greatly see how my writing has improved over the years, as it should have if I wrote this so long ago. I was actually 12-13 when this was written, so to be 21 now and looking over it I can clearly see that I've come a long way.

I decided to update this story because one of the chapters was missing. I don't know why or how, but it was gone and it left a gap within the story. I did my best to rewrite it and try to keep it in the same flow as the rest of the story. Of course I wish I was in a younger mindset while writing it, but that's ok. I'll keep which chapter it is a secret because I'd prefer that. Another reason I updated it was because the grammar and blocking of the story was terrible. Now, hopefully, it's a little easier to read and softer on the eyes.

As for now, even though my fan fiction writing if over, I'll still contribute to the website with my next story. It is my Dungeons & Dragons campaign written out in story form. It started as a small project of notes on what happened during each session and soon became something more.

So thank you again for reading my story, it did mean a lot to me as a kid and I'm happy I was able to somewhat preserve it now as an adult. It was the only story I ever started that I actually finished. I really hope you enjoyed it!

~Link4000z

PS: For nostalgic purposes, here's my original Author's Note I published in 2005.

* * *

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed reading Heartbroken as much as I enjoyed creating it. It has been my favorite story I've ever written so far and I wish to continue to make more Heartbroken stories. I want to thank the people who encouraged me to write this and for the people who reviewed this. I wrote about half the story last year and stopped because I got a new computer and it wouldn't let me post any more chapters on But I figured it out and was eager to continue writing the series. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you really, really liked it I am making a Heartbroken 2 on Zelda about Link and Navi's friendship and I'm currently making a Heartbroken 3 on Sonic the Hedgehog's Shadow and Maria's friendship from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Thank you for reading and please review.

Link4000x


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